


Gambler of Feelings

by Karinrumi



Category: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Naruto
Genre: Comedy, Drama, F/M, High School, Modern AU, Multi, Other, Romance, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-03
Updated: 2019-06-22
Packaged: 2019-09-06 10:14:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 18
Words: 29,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16830607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Karinrumi/pseuds/Karinrumi
Summary: "Let's make a bet." These words had a deeper meaning than she would care to admit.  Her entire life depended on it.  She wanted to win, no matter what results would bring their little mind game.Sarada Uchiha always maintains composure, regardless of situation.  You could call it a poker face, which is hiding her real feelings.   She has just one goal to reach and is doing her best to fulfill that goal.  Lack of social skills as well family problems make the matters more complicated. How Sarada can keep her dream? She didn't know yet how to do it, but would do practically everything to keep that dream alive.  No matter what.Karinrumi fanfiction (2018)𝒪𝓃𝑔𝑜𝒾𝓃𝑔☑





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Naruto/Boruto or the characters in it, all rights go to the Masashi Kishimoto&Ukyō Kodachi. However I do own the plot of this story! Any ties to real life events or people is completely coincidental. This story is absolutley fictional.  
> ©Copyright: ©All Rights Reserved

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Naruto/Boruto or the characters in it, all rights go to the Masashi Kishimoto&Ukyō Kodachi. However I do own the plot of this story! Any ties to real life events or people is completely coincidental. This story is absolutley fictional.  
> ©Copyright: ©All Rights Reserved.

How to properly express yours feelings? That question was on her mind, even in the past. She still didn't know how to show her feelings to others. Sarada Uchiha always stayed calm, regardless of the situation. At least according to their high school newspaper and many _strange rumours._

Sarada usually didn't pay attention to the gossips about her life, she treated them like some sort of invisible individual. A very good example of this sort of treatment was her biology teacher Shino Aburame, even though he was now wearing very flashy goggles. She actually liked his lessons, but it didn't change the fact that he lacked a charisma to be noticed by other people. And it didn't matter how sad it was to compare this situation with the poor Mr Aburame treatment, especially when it best described it. 

Even though she was worried about this specific rumour, Sarada couldn't break the rules set up by her father. Not after he gave her on birthday the book containing these rules:

**Rule number one:**

Always maintain your poker face, regardless of the situation. Especially when it comes down to hearing rumours or being confronted about them. If you are Uchiha - you simply don't care about some sort of idiots opinion.

**Rule number two:**

Idiots are idiots, but since you are an Uchiha you can't be a one.

**Rule number three:**

If you have a goal to reach, so you reach it, no matter what others think about it. Ah, and never lose with someone else.

**Rule number four:**

Looking for a boyfriend is prohibited. Try to focus on your dreams. Guys are just an unnecessary waste of time. 

Although a rule number four was a little bit strange the young Uchiha heiress didn't mind it. That strange book with a weird set of rules helped her to survive in the institution called high school. She should be happy then, right? 

Behind the red glasses, her onyx eyes didn't show happiness at all. A middle-length black wavy hair, which confirmed that she is Sasuke Uchiha daughter, looked today terrible. However, these two things meant that Sarada Uchiha wasn't her usual self today. That was like signs of an upcoming apocalypse. And everything by one stupid rumour about her mom. 

Sarada knew that this was just a stupid rumour, she knew that gossips are a natural part of life, but she couldn't help being worried about her family well being. She was an Uchiha, so she should follow the mentioned rules. However, her thoughts drifted around a few simple questions:

How to properly express your feelings? What would you do, if you must follow a certain set of rules? Are you trying to find happiness, by following them? And the most important one...

_What she should do if she is close to breaking rule number one?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN;  
> And here I go with publishing my first fanfiction ever written in English on this site. For clearing up the doubts my nickname is the same on the Wattpad and ff.net - Karinrumi. I'm basically the same person.  
> It's pretty fun to publish GoF here from the same start. Though it takes a little bit more time. 
> 
> Like usual I'm sorry for stupid mistakes and hope that ya all enjoyed reading the Prologue of this BoruSara story.
> 
> Yours clumsy author Karinrumi ;)


	2. Chapter One

"Sarada, don't you think this is just a stupid rumour?" said Chō-Chō Akimichi, which was Sarada best and only friend. 

"All rumours are usually stupid, Chō-Chō," she muttered in response. Talking over the phone wasn't her favourite method of communication, but it's not like she had any choice. Chō-Chō right now was on her family trip, so Sarada couldn't meet with her personally. And holding a phone, while walking through school corridors definitely wasn't an easy task to do. Small crowds of other students talking to each other during the school break made it more difficult for Sarada since she hated being around loud people.

"If you think all rumours are stupid, why are you worried?" Chō-Chō asked, but Sarada could hear a slight irritation in her voice. 

"I'm worried since this time one of those rumours include my mom, " she sighed. It would be much easier if she could just confront her mom about it, but not too long ago both of them got into a big argument. Sarada doubted that she could speak to her now about the entire problem. 

"Just ask your mom if it is true and everything will be solved!" Chō-Chō answered and at the same time found a simple solution to the whole situation. Unlike Sarada, she wasn't second-guessing every little action she would eventually take or over-analysing other person behaviours during their first interactions. However, she had a completely different problem than Sarada if it came to meeting new people.

Chō-Chō intense imagination, brutal honesty and often her delusional speeches about some matters, made many people run away from her after their first meeting. The only reason Sarada didn't run from Chō-Chō as well was her composure, which she learned from her dad. A fact that they both were attending the same primary school helped too. Sarada Uchiha never judged Chō-Chō Akimichi appearance. Chō-Chō in the childhood was bullied by other children and called 'fat monster' but for some reason, the bullying stopped after she started her friendship with Sarada. It turned out later that these bullies were scared of famous Uchiha unfazed stare. At that time both girls were just six years old. In short summary of events - they were best friends ever since Sarada stopped Chō-Chō bullies. 

"Hnn..." she hung up and it was the last thing, which she said to Chō-Chō. It proved that even after seventeen years, Sarada Uchiha wasn't the best motivational speaker. She definitely inherited this personality trait from her father. He wasn't the best motivational speaker as well, you could even say he was a lot worse in that regard than his daughter.

Corridors of Konoha High School were very simple in its construction. You basically couldn't get lost there, unless you were a completely clueless idiot. Sarada heard the decision for keeping the whole school simple layout was made by the principal of this place, Naruto Uzumaki. She really liked the whiteness of the walls and the tiled floors. This school had on her some sort of magical effect, even though she was still worried, walking through a straight corridor helped the young Uchiha to calm down. Thanks to that she suddenly remembered the rule number one, which she should follow. 

' _Always maintain your poker face, regardless of situation. Especially when it comes down to hearing rumours or being confronted about them. If you are Uchiha - you simply don't care about some sort of idiots opinion.'_

She scolded herself for not following it and making such a big deal about some stupid rumour. There was no way her mom would have another lover and betray dad, right? It wasn't possible. Although she didn't believe it, Sarada couldn't stop being worried. In the result, she bumped into someone by accident and her bum hit the floor. She winced when she noticed how her new smartphone, which she held earlier also hit the ground and smashed to pieces.

"I'm really sorry, ya know!" Sarada felt at that moment really angry, but with her usual composure, she took the hand of the person, who was partially responsible for her fall. She stood up and looked completely calm while glaring in the direction of the crashed smartphone. In the end, it didn't matter what she was feeling if her face had always the same stoic expression.

"It's alright I wasn't paying attention too," she murmured not even looking at the mentioned person. She was just staring at the remains of what was a minute ago her working communication device. Now it was useless to even try to send a causal message or make a call. Fixing it was impossible and she doubted that her mom would buy her a new phone. Not after their little quarrel. 

"Ya know... Are you really all right?" The guy, which she bumped into repeated question from earlier. When Sarada calmed down she stared in the direction of a guy, which was partially responsible for the smashed to pieces phone. 

He seemed to be at the same age as her but looked oddly similar to the principal of their school. The guy spiky blond hair, blue eyes and the whisker marks on his cheeks were unmistakable. Sarada started to connect the dots after looking at his outfit. A black unzipped jacket, white t-shirt and as well black jeans. She blinked a few times realising how her skin was pale compared to his tanned skin. This was bad...

She bumped into the famous troublemaker and the principal son Boruto Uzumaki. Sarada stood up as fast she could and send to him an annoyed stare. It doesn't matter if he was the principal son or whatever. Boruto Uzmaki was part of the reason her smartphone crashed! She didn't care at that moment about any consequences by insulting the principals' son. 

"Move out of the way! Y-you idiot," she hissed and walked straight into the direction of her smashed to pieces phone, leaving a dumbfounded Boruto alone.

Boruto Uzumaki for a long time didn't meet a person who would call him an idiot, except his few close friends. He stared confused about what to do with the situation when a person, which you offer help calls you a one. Boruto didn't know personally this girl, but he knew that her behaviour was very rude and uncalled for! He wasn't an idiot and he intended to prove it to that stupid girl. 

_Who was this stupid girl? He had to ask Shikadai about this and show her that you don't mess with Boruto Uzumaki or call him an idiot!_


	3. Chapter Two

A little bit angry Boruto by his previous encounter with that rude girl heard the school bell. He sighed, his personal grudge towards her must wait. Shikadai would scold him if he would be late to their club meeting. 

"I'm not an idiot..." he whispered before going to meet with his group of friends. Boruto Uzumaki was well known by other teenagers as a social, popular type of guy. However, due to his popularity, a small number of people could actually see what is hidden under his public mask. 

Boruto himself sometimes couldn't predict what he would do in certain types of situations. Yes, he was social, yes, he had as well many friends, yes, he was probably the luckiest person to own a lot of precious things, but still couldn't get one thing he desired his father attention.

Naruto Uzumaki as this high school principal was very busy in maintaining this building. Although he was principal of this school, Naruto also was boss in a big company called Hokage Inc. Boruto father was rarely at home and wasn't paying any attention to his children due to being tired. And even if Boruto could understand that the head of an Uzumaki family was very busy, it wasn't changing the fact that he felt hurt inside by his dad absence. The whole matter was also complicated by other people comparing him to his father. Boruto hated being compared to Naruto.

He understood that his father's success was not his. And yet people often praised him for it, like it was being his own. Except that they avoided talking about things, which Boruto achieved by himself. Boruto always had problems with it but didn't want to create any unnecessary worries for his mom and younger sister. They were both stressed enough, even without his complaints about dad. 

He walked by the straight corridor until he didn't stand before the strange door to their clubroom. This door was made from wood and the doorknob looked similar to a black crown. When he opened the door, he saw stylish brown tables, swivel chairs, and a cupboard containing board games. In some of the chairs were already sitting club members, which belonged to his closest circle of friends.

"I'm sorry for being late, ya know! I was helping a teacher and sort of bumped into someone on my way here." His apology and his tone of voice didn't convince anyone sitting in the clubroom. Boruto was late every day to their club meetings. And he always invented new reasons for being late. It was mainly influenced by his dad close friend Kakashi Hatake. Boruto learned from him a lot of great excuses, especially when someone invited him somewhere, but he ended up being late. He had at least better contact with him than with his own biological father.

"Nobody is fooled, Boruto. I think you should think up a better excuse. This one wasn't that spectacular like former one" stated calmly, Mitsuki. 

Mitsuki was one of Boruto best friends and for some strange reasons behaved like a stalker towards Boruto, but his honest opinions could sometimes hurt. Although Mitsuki had good looks, unlike the young Uzumaki wasn't that popular among girls at their school. The main reason for it wasn't Mitsuki itself, but his half-mom, half-dad called Orochimaru. Orochimaru claimed that 'he can be looking like a man, but is the woman at heart'. Boruto never understood why Mitsuki always said that Orochimaru gender doesn't matter, especially to his all past girlfriends. Showing them all his collection of domestic snakes was one of Mitsuki strange ideas, but Boruto admitted to himself that many of Mitsuki 'break-ups' were entertaining to watch.

Mitsuki, sharp, golden eyes, dishevelled silver hair and the fact that he was now wearing a blue tracksuit, made Boruto almost laugh when he remembered the most famous break-up Mitsuki had with one of his girlfriends.

"You think something nasty about me, don't you, Boruto?" Mitsuki said while sending to Boruto one of his scary smiles. The young Uzumaki almost forgot about sixth-sense this guy had.

"Me? No, of course not!" He nervously shook his head and noticed, that his words did not convince his silver-haired friend. 

"It's troublesome" commented as usual Shikadai Nara. Shikadai was Boruto first childhood friend. However, compared to the Boruto he didn't mind hearing comparisons to his own father. They both had the same very fashionable pineapple black hair, tied up in a ponytail and similar speech pattern. The only visible difference between them was that Shikadai had green eyes just like his mom. Shikadai Nara was just too much lazy for caring about other people opinion, unlike Boruto. 

"For you everything is troublesome, Shikadai," spoke up Sumire Kakei. She was attending the same class as Boruto and was their class president. Sumire had purple coloured eyes and hair, which she usually was tying into the two long braids behind her back. Sumire wore an official school uniform for girls. A sailor's white blouse and black skirt, knee-length, white tights, and black boots. Boruto suspected that she joined the club because of her crush on Mitsuki. However, it could only be his own impression. 

"Since everything is troublesome, Sumire," responded Shikadai and yawned.

"Where is Chō-Chō?" asked Boruto and completely ignored this senseless conversation between the club members.

"On the family trip. She forgot to tell us about it. However, our new club member can join our club today, even without her. Apparently, it is Chō-Chō best friend, so we can relax according to Chō-Chō words" explained Mitsuki, while Boruto sat in one of the chairs.

At the same moment, the door to their club room opened up and before Boruto appeared the same girl, which bumped into him earlier in the corridor, and called him an idiot!

This was his chance to actually prove to her that he isn't an idiot. It was after all club who specialise in playing different types of games. If she will be part of this club, sooner or later he would challenge her to a game. And Boruto Uzumaki never quits, especially when someone gets on his nerves.


	4. Chapter Three

Sarada stood shocked when she noticed the same person, which was responsible for her destroyed smartphone. Although she was surprised, Sarada very quickly came back to using her calm demeanour. It was the second time where she was cursing this day and her bad luck.

"I'm Sarada Uchiha and from today onwards I will be a member of this club. Nice to meet you all..." she said in a very polite manner. She was looking at every person gathered in the clubroom, but at the same time avoiding an intense gaze of a certain blond guy. And that certain blond guy was the principal son. Exactly the same person, which she called an idiot earlier in her rare moments of anger. 

"Uwawah! I'm Sumire Kakei, nice to m-meet you too!" said the only other girl present in this room. Sarada noted that Sumire had a great potential to be her friend, at least among the girls in this high school. Of course, Chō-Chō would always be her best friend, but what is the harm in getting to know new people? Especially since Sumire didn't make any sarcastic remarks in regards to her family name. What was rather rare in this place. 

"Introductions are too much troublesome. I'm Shikadai Nara and my role in this club is being the strategist. Like you probably know, our club will be participating in the upcoming game tournament ." Excluding his crazy pineapple black hair and the green tracksuit, Shikadai looked like a complete slacker, so Sarada had many issues in believing he was the strategist of this club. 

"I know it is hard to believe it, but Shikadai is amazing in that role. He is the best person for making sure that our group strategies will work, by the way, I'm Mitsuki the vice president of this club. I heard many great things about you from Chō-Chō, Sarada. " Mitsuki golden eyes shifted from Sarada to Boruto like he was thinking about something complicated. Sarada compared to the Boruto didn't know Mitsuki that well, but even she herself could tell it wasn't something good. And even if it was, it was something she wouldn't personally like. Boruto, on the other hand, knew Mitsuki better, so he was afraid of the things Mitsuki had planned. Mitsuki smile just showed for him, he should pray to survive this whole upcoming school year.

"I'm Boruto Uzumaki and I'm the president of this club. Nice to meet you, Sarada _._ " She should know that luck wasn't on her side today. Although Boruto introduction seemed friendly, Sarada could tell he was hiding his irritation by her presence. She sighed. First, that stupid rumours about her mom, second her smashed to pieces smartphone and now she must deal with the principal son. This day was a definition of one of the worst days in her life. Sarada wasn't liking Boruto. He was an arrogant, spoiled brat in her opinion. That is the main reason why she was avoiding him in the first place. They went to different classes, so avoiding him was quite easy. She knew that Boruto was one of the Chō-Chō friends, but she wasn't expecting he was a president of a club, where Chō-Chō was a member.

"I heard from Chō-Chō that you all meet here in order to play different types of games, so what game we will be playing today?" Sarada asked, at the same time ignoring Boruto smug grin. He was quite handsome when he smiled. Wait, handsome? No way! She never would admit it, but she was a tiny bit attracted to that guy. Especially she liked his blue eyes, but being attractive isn't everything. She still considered him an arrogant, spoiled brat. At least that was her first impression when she saw him for the first time. Sarada honestly doubted that Boruto even noticed her during that time.

Boruto always had amazing empathic skills, so he could easily tell when someone didn't like him. He knew that Sarada was annoyed by his presence as well and that it was exactly what he wanted. Boruto very fast connected the latest rumours to the Sarada surname, but his small, personal grudge with every minute grew. This grudge grew so much that he wanted to her regretting calling him an idiot in the first place. Without the use of the stupid rumours or petty tricks. He even forgot to ask Shikadai about advice regarding her by that whole situation. It felt very cliché in his opinion. His focused gaze was completely on her heartless, beautiful onyx eyes, middle-length, wavy black hair and the pale skin contrasting very nice with their high school uniform. He probably stared in her direction too long, because Mitsuki false cough started to get louder. Boruto would admit that Sarada was a very pretty girl, but her character was making him easily annoyed. She represented everything he hated in other people. 

"We are playing today in an old maid!" Sumire statement broke up uncomfortable silence between the group. She wanted to see Mitsuki amazing smile a little bit longer, but at the same time, she had enough of Boruto bad mood. Sometimes Sumire felt inferior to Chō-Chō. If she would be here, then both Mitsuki and Shikadai would take this meeting seriously. Sumire whished for Chō-Chō to develop feelings for Shikadai or some another guy, but not Mitsuki. She knew it was petty, but she couldn't deal with jealousy, especially when she saw how great they were looking with each other company. Sumire couldn't help, but think she was third-wheeling when they were spending time together as a group. 

"The old maid was a Victorian card game for two or more players probably deriving an ancient gambling game in which the loser pays for the drinks. Of course, we won't start to pay for any alcoholic drinks, but we can bet who pays for today's dinner or something " explained amused with this whole situation Mitsuki. Partially since he felt that with Sumire reaction was something off, so he decided to play proposed by her game. Although the old maid wasn't his favourite one among so many games, today Mitsuki wanted for Sumire to feel relaxed in the presence of a new girl. 

"We can use retail cards for playing an old maid, but I prefer to play with a regular deck of fifty-two cards." Sumire tone of voice sounded more confident than earlier. She even gathered the courage to send to Sarada one of her best smiles. Sarada awkwardly tried to return her smile with her own, but it did not work well. Sarada Uchiha wasn't good with showing her feelings by using the facial expressions, but the girl with a purple hair at least could sense it. 

"Ah, so are we adding a card to our game or removing one?" Sarada asked calmly.

"We can always add the joker. I hate removing cards, ya know!" shouted Boruto. He hated that suddenly the whole attention focused on Sumire and Mitsuki. He was this club president for God's sake! 

"It's troublesome, so I'm out from playing an old maid," groaned unhappy Shikadai. He wanted to go to sleep. 

"I will shuffle the cards for the game to be fair to every participant, even though it's trouble," he added suddenly. Sumire eyes lit upon his words, she loved to play in an old maid in comparison to the male members of this club. 

"Rules of the old maid are very simple. After Shikadai will shuffle the cards each of us receives the cards. Some of us may have more cards than others, this is acceptable. After that, we look at our cards and discard any pairs we have. We will start a game and take turns in selecting the card and adding it to our own cards. If a person sees that taken card makes a pair with their original cards, then that person discards received pair as well. The main objective of the game is to continue to take cards, discarding pairs until no more pairs can be made. In other words, a person who ends up with joker will lose. That are the rules of an old maid!" Sumire explanation was very energetic, although unnecessary. Boruto looked very bored what made Sarada want to play in that card game even more. 

"Let's make a bet. I together with Mitsuki will pair up against Sumire and Sarada, and the pair which will lose the game pays for today's dinner!" shouted Boruto surprising Mitsuki.

"Bring it on. I bet you lose, you idiot" said bluntly Sarada and Sumire stared at her in shock. She knew that the young Uzumaki hated being called an idiot. Sumire expected that Boruto would lose his composure, but to her surprise, it didn't happen. 

"I accept your challenge you loser" he responded and smiled in her direction. It wasn't Boruto real smile, it was one of his fake smiles reserved for people, which he didn't like at all. 

_He accepted Sarada's challenge just because he wanted to see her without that poker face and show that calling him an idiot was the biggest mistake in her life. And that's how it all began._


	5. Chapter Four

When Sarada, Sumire, Boruto and Mitsuki started to play in an old maid, Shikadai used this opportunity to take a nap. He couldn't understand why his childhood friend was so determined to win against a new member in the club. Shikadai always thought that Boruto in some aspects was more lazy than he himself.

Their card game lasted a few turns, but in the end the person which ended up with a joker was Mitsuki.

"It seems we lost, Boruto" he said with a big smile. His golden eyes started glittering from amusement. Mitsuki expression told Boruto everything, which he needed to know. Mitsuki lost the game on purpose in order to buy dinner for Sumire.

"It seems you're helpful like always, Mitsuki" snarked Boruto in the response to the Mitsuki words.

Although Sarada won, she wasn't feeling happy about her victory. For some strange reason beating Boruto in an old maid didn't bring her any satisfaction. First of all his partner didn't even tried to win and that made her more angry than earlier. Did Mitsuki even took Sumire seriously during the game?! No, he didn't and that was making her angry. What actually was going on with this club? It was supposed to be a club with the people who loved playing in the games seriously, but it looked like majority of this club didn't treated Sumire Kakei seriously at all.

"Hey, since your silver-haired friend didn't even took our challenge seriously can we really call it a fair game? I hate half-assed victories and it seems like members of this club just love losing without trying to win as well" spoke harshly Sarada. She scanned calmly with her eyes reaction of all the club members. Boruto looked annoyed, but he averted his blue eyes knowing that these words were harsh truth. Mitsuki still was smiling, while Sumire clenched her fist and Sarada noticed sadness in her expression. Shikadai just muttered his usual catchphrase, but you could say these words seemed less confident than before.

Chō-Chō told her various stories about this club, but in the reality Sarada felt disappointed with the real mentality of the club members. When Boruto noticed that Mitsuki stopped take this challenge seriously, he did it as well. According to Chō-Chō, Uzumaki not long time ago was more passionate about games, however due to some incident between the club members extinguished his passion. Sarada suspected that main source of this problem was Mitsuki, although she wasn't one hundred precent sure. It seemed that a request from Chō-Chō will be harder to fulfil than she initially thought.

"You shouldn't assume how we are or how we like to win, when you don't know anything, y'all know? " Boruto stated, but something wasn't right when Sarada looked into his light blue eyes. The time seemed to stop for her in that moment. Boruto eyes showed a small bits of anger and that was for Sarada fascinating.

Boruto Uzumaki during this whole time was irritated by her behaviour, but he never showed till this point really angry expression on his face. Sure, she called him an idiot and they had a few arguments before, however Boruto expressions mainly were showing his irritation. Not an anger. Maybe she shouldn't be honest about her thoughts on the club members? Sarada always had problems in conversations with other people, of course not counting Chō-Chō. Circling rumours about her mom didn't helped in her being more open to talking with others. She should decline Chō-Chō offer to join the club.

"Oh, really? Hnn.. I can assume what I want. You can't blame me for having bigger imagination than you, idiot" Sarada responded and she didn't even flinched during Boruto angry stare. She was an Uchiha after all, so deadly stares had a rather weak effect on her, unlike some other members of the club. Hearing her response Boruto desire to destroy Sarada poker face multiplied a lot more than before theirs earlier challenge.

"Fine. If you aren't satisfied with the result of our card game why you don't challenge me to another game, tomorrow? I will take you on seriously then, newbie, y'all know!" Boruto smile made a poor job in hiding his anger, but Sarada responded with her overconfident smirk. Looking at Boruto, Sarada was following two rules from her book.

**Rule number two:**

_Idiots are idiots, but since you are an Uchiha you can't be a one._

Boruto was an idiot compared to her, so she pretty much didn't care about him being more smart than her.

**Rule number three:**

_If you have a goal to reach, so you reach it, no matter what others think about it. Ah, and never lose with someone else._

Sarada and Sumire in theory didn't lose to the Boruto or Mitsuki, but both of them were clearly underestimated. And just for that she wanted to kick their ass. They deserved it.

"I will challenge you tomoorow. Don't underestimate me or you will be in world of pain, you cowarad" she claimed with the same blank expression on her face. Expression, which Boruto hated about Sarada Uchiha the most, but at the same time thinking it fits to this girl character.

"I'm fine with being a coward, totally fine with it" he said, mocking Sarada words.

"Is that so? But you aren't fine with being called an idiot?" Sarada asked, while she started letting her guard down. Her mask seemed to crack a little bit, what didn't get unnoticed by Boruto when he looked into her wide open eyes. Although Sarada eyes stopped be a sign of her surprise, one minute later.

This means that Sarada Uchiha was able to show emotions. He just didn't know how to break her poker face. Boruto still wanted for Sarada Uchiha regret for calling him an idiot. Tomorrow game between them should be interesting. Sarada wanted to set straight this club and win the challenge in a honor to her family name, while he wanted just apology from her and during this occasion revenge for calling him an idiot so many times.

"What a pain" said Shikadai, while Sumire and Mitsuki agreed with him this time around. Angry Boruto was never good sign for them. He really started to take this new girl challenge seriously. They just hoped it doesn't end like the last time Boruto showed passion for gaming. He wouldn't bear this pain all over again and Sarada Uchiha was screaming for them trouble, but in a different way than their troublemaker Boruto Uzumaki.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: I'm too lazy to change A03 skins and will remember for the future that posting prologue on A03 is made automatically into chapter 1. x'DD
> 
> Yours clumsy author Karinrumi ;)


	6. Chapter Five

Club meeting and exchange between Sarada and Boruto came to an end. The whole group even managed to go to a nearby café, where Mitsuki bought dinner for Sumire. Taking into account the events of that day, Boruto and Sarada decided to decide on the winner of their bet after tomorrow's game. When the club meeting ended, everyone went to their own homes.

Sarada was very tired of events this Monday. She tried to remember why she even agreed to help the club members in the first place. However, all her problems today could summarise the name of one person who started all of this, namely Chō-Chō. If something wasn't complicated enough, her best friend always was making it more difficult in many ways. Sarada went back in time to their first discussion about the _'Club of Gamers.'_

・・・・★・・・・★ ・・・・

**Conversation with Chō-Chō last Saturday:**

"Sarada, you would be a very big help if you joined my club! People, there are really nice and are very passionate about games, especially the club president. I'm sure you will like him since you both share similar hobbies," said Chō-Chō during the past Saturday.

"Chō-Chō, I'm not completely sure about it. I didn't plan to join any club this year." Sarada was completely sure that Chō-Chō predicted the outcome of their conversation. Even if she didn't want to admit it, Chō-Chō knew her character better than she herself knew what is in her bag. And to tell the truth, Sarada bag showed that even she isn't a "perfect human being", but just ordinary teenage girl.

"Okay, okay I probably presented the club in a more positive light than it really is, but! But, we really need a new member and someone who would bring this club back to its old glory. You did enjoy games in the past, right Sarada? You were even called at that time the **Gambling** **Queen** , remember? " Chō-Chō words reminded Sarada of her past where she was learning how to maintain a poker face. Being unfazed by the opponent during the game was really important in this field. However, gaming tournaments had a very negative impact if it came to showing her emotions to other people. Sarada was reallyunsure whether to join the club. Especially since its major activities included playing different types of games. Her mom wouldn't be probably happy with it either.

"So you basically want my help in bringing this gaming club back to its glory? If that's the case can I ask why this club needs my help? I can't help you if I don't know anything about the circumstances." Sarada said bluntly, then brushed back part of her black hair behind the ear. She really needed some sort of good accessory in order to tie her hair without any problems. Taking good care of a short, wavy hair was very hard, but the hardest part about it was making the hairstyles, which included tying her hair. She still tried to be focused on her conversation with Chō -Chō. Depending on an answer of her ginger friend, Sarada planned to make decision if she should face her past.

"You see... I don't know the details, but it includes some sort of conflict between the club members. Remember when I told you that the president of our club is very passionate if it comes to games? He is one of my old friends, which I met again recently in high school, but according to other members by some incident, he stopped being passionate about playing a while ago. It really makes me worried about him, since he drastically changed! I know that our club president still loves playing as well have a good challenge, but there is no way he would regain his passion for gaming without a new club member. Please, you must help me out in making this club great again, Sarada." After Chō-Chō explained her request to her, Sarada agreed to help the club mentioned in their conversation. Later that day she had a big argument with her mom, which she wanted to forget.

・・・・★・・・・★ ・・・・

**Back to the Present:**

"I'm home!" shouted Sarada, but just like she excepted her parents weren't present at home. And even if she would meet her mom the atmosphere between them was awkward. Especially with all those rumours circling around and it didn't help they were both angry at each other.

Sarada started to think she made a mistake agreeing to help Chō-Chō. At that time she didn't know that Boruto Uzumaki was, in fact, a club president, which her friend mentioned during their conversation. Because, why **HE** of all people would share something common with her? However help was help and if she was already helping, then she intended to help till the same end. Maybe... Maybe helping this club could save her in some way too? Sarada Uchiha should stop running away from her past and accept that she was indeed called back in the old days a Gambling Queen.

・・・・★・・・・★ ・・・・

Sumire picked up the phone call from Shikadai. She was aware of why he would call her at such a late hour. He wanted to talk about Boruto. And that meant Shikadai still didn't stop have feelings for that _girl_. It was that girl fault. If she just didn't join their club in the first place everything would be alright. Everyone would still be happy as each other friends. She just hoped that Sarada will never get to know about their little secret. Depending on the situation, there is no guarantee that Boruto doesn't end up hurt again.


	7. Chapter Six

"What do you want, Shikadai?" hissed Sumire knowing the exact reason. If it was about that girl... Nara was blinded in judging the situation.

"Don't ask stupid questions. You know why I called you, right? You were closest to the truth, so I want to hear your opinion on Boruto behaviour today," responded Shikadai. Sumire had a very good reason to be cold towards him but decided to leave behind their issues from the past. At least for now.

"Why you suddenly ask me about the opinion on Boruto behaviour? In the past you didn't give a damn about my warnings", coldness in her voice couldn't be more noticeable than now.

"It was too much troublesome and I admit it was one of my past mistakes", admitted defeated Shikadai.

"Ha! Even if you finally realised it, it's too late now. Considering our past I will decide if I should hear you out depending on your answer. Shikadai, why you still try to justify that girl which hurt both you and Boruto? Shouldn't you both just move on and forget about her?"

Sumire felt disgusted when she mentioned up this girl in their phone conversation. She never liked her and never will. It just proves that she was right from the same beginning. Now they all suffer and it's her fault. It's her fault that the rest of the club members don't treat her seriously as well. Sumire had a lot of her own secrets, but Shikadai and Boruto actually were more secretive than her in regard to their past. Past, which even Mitsuki had no idea about.

"It's complicated and without Boruto constent I cannot tell you... What a drag..." Sumire hunged up. She was fed up with Shikadai excuses. Looking at night sky she went into the direction of an orphanage where she was an older sister for younger children. This Monday had too much of unexcepted events as well developments. Taking a break didn't seem that bad, especially in her current mood. Shikadai started unintentionally awaken her bad side of personality.

"Even if Mitsuki will accept my feelings... I'm not ready right now for entering into a relationship. Huh, I should realize this earlier. The past will be always hunting me" she whispered, but still wanted to deny reality a little bit more.

・・・・★・・・・★ ・・・・

"Mom, Hima, I came back, ya know!" screamed Boruto standing in the middle of the two most important women in his family.

"We can hear you, Boruto" claimed in a calm manner Hinata Uzumaki, in other words, Boruto mom. She was a beautiful middle-aged woman with unique lavender eyes, pale skin and style-bobbed dark blue hair. Indeed Boruto mother was very pretty, patient and good mannered what made Boruto think that dad didn't deserve to be with her in the relationship at all.

"Brother, you're too loud. It is disturbing me in creating my art" complained, on the other hand, his younger sister Himawari. Himawari was a mini-copy of their mother, not counting her blue eyes and whisker marks on her cheeks. In terms of character, she was too similar to their mom, which worried Boruto. Although he loved them both or since he loved them both, Boruto couldn't stand their forgiving attitude towards dad, even if it was his DAD fault, to begin with.

"Sorry, Hima! I didn't do it on purpose, you know?" answered a little bit nervous Boruto. He noted to himself that both Hinata and Himawari were really hard to deal with, especially if they were angry with you.

"I know, I was just teasing you" she sent to him a warm smile. Boruto pouted a little bit and as usual, was overdramatic during their family dinner. He ate already in the cafe but didn't want to make mom sad by not eating her cooking. In the result, he couldn't look at evening adverts with food, because they were making him too much full than he actually was.

"You seem more energetic today. Did something good happen? I didn't see you that happy in a while" asked Hinata, having puzzled thoughts about her son being in such a good mood and not complaining as usual about his dad.

"Not really, ya know! Just usual stuff and gaining new member for our club, which means I can continue pursuing my passion", said Boruto in a happy tone. He never mentioned that girl, which Sumire despised with her full heart to his family. And the current situation meant they wouldn't know anyway. It is actually better this way.

"Alright, you can say I believe you for now. Could you please pick up letters from the mailbox for me?" Boruto stood up in order to pick up letters and at the same time respect his mom request.

The mailbox was just next to their house, so the trip was very short. He picked up various letters but noticed one message which was sticking out the most. What stood out from these letters was that it was not packed in an envelope and you could easily read its contents. The message in the letter said:

**Dear Naruto**

_Meet me today at our usual place. Don't let Hinata or anybody know about it, you know what I mean, right? Anyway, I'm counting on you!_

**Sakura Uchiha**

Why his father knew Sarada mother?! And more importantly why he had a secret meeting with her. Boruto hid the message in the pocket of his jacket. There is no way he shows the contents of that letter to his mom, at least not before he confronts Sarada about this case. He didn't like this situation at all but decided to leave everything for tomorrow and go to sleep. Sleep with many questions lingering onto his mind.


	8. Chapter Seven

The ringing alarm was like usual annoying for Sarada. According to her 'gossiping' classmates, she was a morning person. Well, their source of information was totally wrong. Sarada Uchiha hated to wake up at early hours, but unlike some people, she had to take care of her good reputation.

"Hnn...", she mumbled turning off her loud clock and slowly getting up from the bed. As always at this hour Sarada was alone. It's nothing new, at that point, she considered this state of affairs as her daily routine.

Sarada's dad had work, which needed constant travelling, so she rarely was seeing him at home. And if her father was spending time with his family it was a strange miracle. Sakura Uchiha, although busy as main head of a 'Spring Haruno Hospital' was trying her best in taking care of their daughter. In other words, Sarada parents were usually not present at home, so she was spending the majority of her time alone.

Breakfast, shower, making a meal as well pack it into the lunchbox were her routine in daily life. However, this daily life was for Sarada too silent and boring. In the past, she always had her small dose of excitement during the gambling tournaments. She was called a 'Gambling Queen',been one of the best players, but she screwed it up.

**_'Rule number three:_ **

_If you have a goal to reach, so you reach it, no matter what others think about it. Ah, and never lose with someone else.'_

It was the rule, which she had the hardest time to follow considering her past. If she would describe herself in a few honest words... She would tell that Sarada Uchiha at school is a mask full of lies. That was one of her reasons why she couldn't stand Boruto.

"Why I think about so much unnecessary things?" her soft whisper was the only sound, which somebody could hear at her house.

・・・・★・・・・★ ・・・・

Mornings at Uzumaki household were loud as usual. Boruto as morning person was in charge of waking up the whole family. Of course, the person which he went to wake up first was his dad, since hedeserved it. His mom and Himawari in contrast to the Naruto were treated by him more gently during the whole process.

Later on, they all, except dad were eating together breakfast, where Boruto was pretending to be a drama queen. He tried his best to not give any signs that yesterday he found a strange letter addressed to his dad. The young Uzumaki first needed some sort of proof that the initial sender or his father was suspicious. Lucky for him today during a club meeting he can confirm the whole situation with Sarada. He didn't like her that much, but it was her mom who wrote this message in the first place.

After his thoughts drifted to Sarada, Boruto scolded himself for forgetting that today is as well the day when they will be having a serious bet and he must think of some sort a game.

"I'm going out, kay!" he shouted and left every troubling thought for later. His daily life was a very happy one, even if there were some issues between him and Naruto.

・・・・★・・・・★ ・・・・

Lessons passed very fast for Sarada, but for Boruto they felt like eternal torture. Then later both of them went to the club meeting in different moods. Although they were not excepting to be in front of the club door at the exact same time. They both ignored good manners and just went into the clubroom in a sort of mutual understanding.

"O-hh, Sarada, Boruto, welcome!" said Sumire who was sitting further away from Shikadai. For some reason, the atmosphere between her and him gave of negative vibes.

"Did something happened between you two?" asked Boruto feeling a little bit uncomfortable. Especially since Sumire showing her anger wasn't a common occurrence.

"It's nothing" she responded, but she couldn't help in sending to poor Shikadai a lot of deadly glares.

"What a drag" mumbled Shikadai trying his best to ignore Sumire stares. Mitsuki wasn't here yet, so Boruto and Sarada decided to take care of their own business for now and focus on angry Sumire later.

"Let's make a bet." Sarada wasn't aware of this yet, that these words from Boruto mouth had for her deeper meaning than she would care to admit. Theirs lives were different, even if they had the same determination to be the winner of this little mind game.

"Bring it on" she replied sealing her fate.


	9. Chapter Eight

"Bring it on, huh? You're really confident, ya know? Did you consider that I can be the winner?" asked a little taken aback by Sarada answer, Boruto.

"You talk like you aren't overconfident either. And yes I considered many possibilities before, including the one where I'm the winner. So what are conditions of this bet?" she stated in a calm manner. However, for some reason, Sarada voice and expressionless face irritated Boruto, even more than some secret meeting between her mom and his dad.

"Hmm... Let's say I will keep my demand a secret for now and hear what you do with me when I lose," he said to her while ignoring the troubled Shikadai with angry Sumire behind him.

"Fine. If I win you will do anything I say." Boruto just stopped the urge to say that it is a really unoriginal idea. He decided that the best course of action would be to brush it off right now. Who knows what would happen if he lost to this stuck-up, irritating girl.

"That's okay with me, so moving on the game this time will be a little bit different from usual games." It looked like Sarada onyx eyes showed slight interest after his words.

"Is that so?"

Even though she was talking to him, he hated that she had the same expression on her face. His feelings yesterday were very much directed by anger, but today he was completely sure about cracking this annoying mask. The mask, which she was wearing. Of course, Boruto had his own reasons for doing so. It was the first time from that cursed day when somebody managed to provoke him this badly.That feeling was for him strange, but at the same time strangely refreshing.

"Yeah, ya know. Our little game will include playing the detectives, hope you up to it S-A-R-A-D-A," he mocked her in order to see how she responds. Change in her expression would be nice, even if he was thinking about filling complaints in regards to some parts of her personality.

"Detectives? We... You don't do anything illegal, right?" Her question made him smile a little in order to see if teasing her would work in crumbling her mask.

So far it didn't have any effect at all. Why stuck-up, expressionless, emo people were so hard to deal with?! Although Boruto was very social, a popular type of guy at the school, he had a problem dealing with people like Sarada.

"Of course we don't do anything illegal. I think our game will involve something, which could be good for both of us in the end. Oh, but first I should show you the note."

Boruto took the copy of the note addressed to his dad and handed it to Sarada. It was a minor detail, but he noticed her small movement betraying surprise she felt. He started to have fun in this little game. It reminded him of his past and more naive self.

"I see, so this is what you were thinking when you said we will be playing as detectives. Do you think up some rules considering this is a game?"

"Yes, I did. In the end, the person who wins our game will be the person who faster discovers all secrets around this note. Even if the game itself isn't that great the end results could be positive, ya know?" 

Boruto words were for Sarada more tempting than she wanted to show. Considering recent rumours about her mom playing a detective wasn't that bad in comparison to ignoring a message, which her mom sent to Boruto dad. And in that case, she was unable to refuse or resign from the bet. On top of that maybe it was her chance to improve her relationship with Sakura. Lately, they both hardly ever talked to each other.

"In that case, I'm in one hundred per cent. Can you tell me the rules?" This whole conversation started draining her whole energy. She wouldn't mind taking a little nap.

"Here ya go! I wrote all the rules in this little notebook. Talking with you makes me terribly tired, so if I talk with you a bit longer I would probably die from being too long near your emo aura. I hate explaining the rules, I prefer to break them."

Sarada at this point didn't know if she should admire or curse this blond guy honesty.

"I am not emo, you constantly smiling bastard!" She corrected him in a polite manner, but the only thing she could hear was his annoying laugh. And for some reason, she stopped the urge to punch him in his smug, grinning face.

・・・・★・・・・★ ・・・・

When Boruto and Sarada were busy talking with each other, at the same time Sumire deadly stares started to make Shikadai angry as well. He sighed since this whole situation was literally a drag.

"Sumire, I don't understand why you still angry about our conversation yesterday. Your pouting doesn't change my answer." Shikadai comments instead to calm down Sumire, made her mad even more.

"If you don't understand, so think about it hard and try to later. Sarada was right, I don't know about the other club members, but you aren't taking me seriously at all, do you?" she muttered showing a pained expression. Although she usually wasn't hard on people her position right now required it.

"Maybe it's actually you who don't understand anything. Stop playing the goody two shoes and admit that your action comes from your own selfish desires. Instead of bothering me go stalking or going to do puppy dog eyes to Mitsuki or something. If you think that you can understand my feelings, you're totally wrong about that part. Oh, I forgot that even puppy dog eyes will not help you to get attention from Mitsuki since he probably would be too busy observing Boruto. Too bad for you," he snapped. Shikadai had his own reasons for getting angry on miss Kakei.

Sumire looked shocked, but a minute later she slapped Shikadai Nara in the cheek. Her violet eyes were glinting with anger.

"Even though Mitsuki has weird hobbies, he is a hundred times better man than you will ever be" she hissed and walked out from the clubroom.  
Ouch. He should stop himself before he went too far.

Even if Shikadai could calculate to some extent his own actions when emotions got better of him, he could be sometimes too harsh on the others. However, his current thoughts were interrupted by SMS from Mitsuki.

'I have something urgent to do today, so I will not be coming to the club meeting.'

Great, just great. How the hell Boruto and the new girl didn't notice this whole commotion earlier? Observing Boruto giving some sort of paper to that Sarada girl was for sure interesting, but he really wasn't in the mood today to do the club activities when they both finish their business.

・・・・★・・・・★ ・・・・

Chō-Chō Akimichi was holding a bag of chips and silently cursing this world. For some reason, Sarada didn't pick up any of her phone calls today when she needed her the most! In the end, she ended up calling Mitsuki, since Shikadai, Sumire or Boruto weren't picking up either, so Chō-Chō was really wondering if everything is going alright. Especially with accepting Sarada as a new member of their club.

"Aahhhh, so annoying! Why everyone was ignoring me? They should know I'm the super, awesome and the best, every guy loves me!" she claimed, munching on her chips. Chō-Chō was forced to suddenly come back from her family trip alone, so she called everyone to help her with the luggage when she arrives. However, every person she knew wasn't responding to her calls, except Mitsuki.

"Your condition every day is getting worse," said Mitsuki appearing behind her.

"Yeah, I know you have a crush on me, but sorry my heart belongs to my only one and true love!" The crowd of people started to send her strange stares, but Chō-Chō in general just ignored those who never understood how great she is.

"Yup, we can add to your symptoms of being delusional, narcissism as well," added to his earlier words Mitsuki and took half of her baggage.  
Chō-Chō planned a big surprise for some of the club members today and Mitsuki agreed to work together with her in an exchange for the photos with a sleeping Boruto. He needed to add some other versions of Boruto pictures to properly decorate his room and own some variety of them.


	10. Chapter Nine

Shikadai, Boruto and Sarada were sitting on the club chairs next to each other in uncomfortable silence. They started to do their mandatory club activities, but without Sumire, the whole atmosphere was lacking something. Although it could be possible that it was because all three of them weren't in the best mood for different reasons.

Shikadai said a few words too much. He was painfully aware of it and tried to think about a way to apologise Sumire for his harsh words. Considering how angry she got it won't be easy to resolve that issue with a simple apology. At the same time, he wasn't willing to tell her too much about his past and private life. Sumire was prying today too much in that subject. No... She was probably prying into it from the moment where the girl, which he loved hurt both his and Boruto feelings.

What a drag. That was his primary thought when he came to that conclusion analysing Sumire anger. Miss Kakei was indeed a very troublesome woman in her own way. It's just she doesn't know about it or does she? Sometimes it wasn't that obvious what Sumire Kakei was thinking or feeling. Eh, he never seriously thought about her feelings in the past. She was just a Mitsuki fangirl who joined the club to get into his pants. However, it was initially his first as the well-mistaken impression, since Sumire turned out to be a good female friend. Though he was hesitant to admit it to someone else, he screwed up by making her angry. Shikadai Nara scattered thoughts resulted in him being unusually quiet, so the tension between his childhood friend and this Uchiha stuck-up lady would be more disturbing for an innocent passerby. 

When Sarada and Boruto finished talking about their bet the bad tension between them grew. It was an understandable silence. They needed to think about their strategy in order to learn more information from the note, which Sakura Uchiha sent to Naruto Uzumaki. First of all both Sarada and Boruto wanted to win this bet for personal reasons, but at the same time know what's really going on between their parents. 

They could gather from the Sakura Uchiha message that it wasn't the first time when she was meeting Naruto Uzumaki. In the end, the words in it said:

_'Meet me today at our usual place. Don't let Hinata or anybody know about it, you know what I mean, right? Anyway, I'm counting on you!'_

So it meant that they both at least were meeting with each other regularly. Though both Sarada and Boruto didn't know where these regular meetings are taking place. The most worrying part of this whole situation was that Sarada mother didn't want to let Hinata Uzumaki know about these meetings for some mysterious reasons.

Sarada bit corner of her lips, struggling to process this shocking information about her mother. Her doubts about the rumours, which she tried to deny didn't fade away. In fact, it made them more valid with this type of development. She should calm down. It was just one stupid piece of paper. Nothing more. 

Yeah, it was just one stupid paper with a vague information, but she could be sure that this note was written by her mother. That handwriting was too much similar to handwriting of Sakura Uchiha for it to be a mistake.

Calm down. 

Sarada after this thought bottled up inside all her mixed feelings. It was something, which she always did and was the best at. Looking calm as well composed around everyone else. 

Sarada Uchiha took a notebook, which contained the rules of the game played by her and Boruto. She narrowed her brows to concentrate. Here it goes!

**Rule number one:**

_Our game as well bet will last one school year. After this period of time if any of us don't make any progress in discovering the truth we automatically reach a draw._

**Rule number two:**

_The condition of winning this game is showing the second player, the evidence supporting discovered truth before the mentioned time in the rule number one._

**Rule number three:**

_To make things fair we will have access to the same information considering the mystery of this note._

Just three rules? What Boruto Uzumaki is thinking?! There must be some sorta catch in this. Sarada sends a suspicious stare to the blond who just answered her with a cocky smile. 

For the first time in her life, she felt like hating somebody else guts.

・・・・★・・・・★ ・・・・

Chō-Chō Akimichi was walking besides Mitsuki and complaining about her beauty or life itself. However, most complaints were directed at all her friends for not responding to her phone calls. Mitsuki wanted just receive some pictures of a sleeping Boruto! He kept telling himself that for this he must endure a little bit more of Chō-Chō overwhelming presence.

"Are you listening, Mitsuki?" she asked with knowing it all tone. 

"No." The Mitsuki response was apparently too honest. It was a miracle that he didn't get killed by any of his past girlfriends. At least not yet. Chō-Chō golden eyes showed that she felt pity for his future self and just continued babbling nonsense, which Mitsuki couldn't stand. But some sacrifices must be made if one wanted to obtain Boruto Uzumaki exclusive photos. 

They were walking together for a while until they reached their destination. Chō-Chō was excited and couldn't wait for showing up behind all of these ignorants who didn't picked-up her phone calls. She took a few photos of a sleeping Boruto from her bag and handed them over to Mitsuki. 

"Here is your payment! I know that I'm awesome, so you don't need to thank me" she proudly said.

"Yeah, I will note that I don't need to thank you in the future as well if that's the case", responded with a big smile Mitsuki. He was just happy that's already possible to add next Boruto photos to his collection. 

They went inside the school building and directed their steps to the clubroom.

・・・・★・・・・★ ・・・・

Boruto due to the awkward atmosphere decided that for today they should finish their club activities and go home. He really couldn't stand that Shikadai was in a gloomy mood and miss perfect played on his nerves too much.

"We should tie it up for toda..." he didn't finish his words since the door to the clubroom opened up with a big bang. 

"Yoooo, why there is here such a gloomy atmosphere? Where is Sumire? And why all of you didn't respond to my calls!?" shouted Chō-Chō, which would be for him in the normal circumstances annoying as hell.

"Calm down Chō-Chō. I did not respond to your calls since my phone was smashed to pieces yesterday" said Sarada surprised to see her best friend. According to her source of information, Chō-Chō should be on a family trip this entire week.

"SARADA, I missed you!" Chō-Chō stated and sat in the chair next to the little lady Uchiha. 

"Hnnn..." That was the only response, which Boruto could hear coming from Sarada mouth. Did Chō-Chō decide that miss perfection is her best friend and didn't care about her opinion in that regard at all?

"Mitsuki, I thought that you didn't plan to come for a club meeting today" muttered annoyed Shikadai. He wanted already to go home and stop thinking about unnecessary things.

"That was the plan until I received a call from that delusional girl", he pointed a finger in the direction where Chō-Chō was sitting.

"What a drag" answered Shikadai.

"Yeah, I'm glad that you both came and all, but we actually finished for today, ya know?" Boruto claimed a little bit mad that Chō-Chō took away the whole attention, which should be focused on him.

"What?! Already, but I didn't catch up with anyone! Sarada tell something!" Chō-Chō pouted like a small child. Sarada just rolled her eyes.

"Something, are you happy?" Boruto snorted hearing Sarada comment. That girl was playing on his nerves in every possible aspect. 

Chō-Chō just happily nodded and it seemed she was satisfied with Sarada answer, but she narrowed her brows when she noticed that Shikadai was unusually silent and many of them didn't answer where was Sumire.

"Seriously, where is Sumire? Shouldn't she be here as well?" Chō-Chō tried to steer the conversation in the interesting her topic. Mitsuki reaction showed that he was curious as well, so if there was a need for it he would provide her with a back-up. 

"..." Shikadai averted his emerald eyes, which were glinting with a hint of sadness and anger. 

"She went home earlier." Boruto saved Shikadai from telling the truth, even though he himself wasn't knowing the real reason for it.

"She was troublesome today" added Nara and his statement closed the subject. Mitsuki seemed to be suspecting that something else was going on, but didn't bother to ask. Chō-Chō after a little chat with Sarada decided to go home as well, so they all felt relief when she stopped her questions. 

And so this club meeting officially ended.

・・・・★・・・・★ ・・・・

Sarada was walking alone until she started to hear meowing in the nearby alley. She decided to follow it since she wasn't in the right mood to sit alone at home during the evening. A load of unexcepted information and remembering all these rumours about her mother were destroying her daily rhythm. One step, two steps, three steps... She stopped counting a while ago, but it helped calm down her inner feelings.

When she turned to her right, she noticed a little Siamese kitten. The kitten had a blue like sky eyes and this feature reminded her of someone else she met just yesterday. But unlike that person, the little kittens were much more adorable. Sarada crouched down to see how the little kitten would react to her presence. 

"Meeeeoww." The kitten cried, came closer to her and started to rub his head against her leg.

"Meow, meow..." Sarada responded to a kitten in that manner, even if she knew that this form of response didn't have any sense. She started to slowly move her hand in order to pat the kitten, but her action was interrupted by annoying chuckle coming from behind her back.

"So little miss perfection is liking animals? Ya know, it would be interesting to tell everyone at our school about this sudden discovery. High and mighty lady Sarada has a soft spot for the animals! I bet that all of your admirers would appreciate that information" teased her Boruto Uzumaki. That guy appeared in her life just yesterday but still managed to show up near her a lot lately. What the hell was with that?! Some sort of a curse where a person which you can't stand will be everywhere you go?

"Eh, what are you doing here?" she asked trying to hide her embarrassment in being caught at this actual moment.

"This alley is a really comfortable shortcut to my house. I should be the one who is asking what are you doing here?" his response made Sarada feeling like she was doing something wrong. 

"Is that so? Good for you, I think." 

After her words, Boruto took a few steps to show up in front of her and crouched down as well. Sarada could see in his blue eyes a spark of amusement.

"Hey, hey what with that reaction miss meow, meow. I'm just worried about you. You shouldn't walk alone in the shady alley, ya know?" His words as usual pissed her off.

"I don't need anyone to worry about me" she pouted, but then came to a sudden realization. Why she pouted in front of him in the first place? It wasn't like her, it wasn't like her at all.

She could see his surprise at her reaction since his blue eyes widened and after it, he smiled. His face looked more handsome with a smile, but Sarada was too busy panicking about the fact she let out unnecessary and petty emotion.

"Are you sure about that? No matter how strong you are it is nice to have someone worrying about your well being." Boruto smile didn't disappear, but it was more annoying than anything he did thus far.

"You're really annoying." It was probably the most honest and best words, which described Boruto Uzumaki existence in her opinion.

"O-ho! So I'm annoying to you lady meow, meow?" he started teasing her too much about her personal feelings and worst of all still felt amused by this situation. 

"Yeah, you are!" Sarada shouted, stood up and started running in the direction of her house. She couldn't stand anymore his presence, so it was for her a logical course of action. 

Boruto looked in the direction where she has gone into a bit longer, but a little smirk was visible on his face. He met Sarada on his way home completely by accident. After all, they all went in opposite directions when the club meeting ended. However, it was at least a valuable meeting for him. 

"I see, so you're more of a scaredy kitten than a cold hearted person, eh? That's interesting in some way. Yeah, it will be fun trying to make you my friend." Boruto muttered these words to himself, stood up and left the alley. The only sound which stayed was a constant meowing of a bunch of stray cats. 


	11. Chapter Ten

Rest of the school week passed for Sarada too fast, at least considering recent events. She even didn't notice when Friday turned into Saturday while being busy with her daily routine. Of course, in that past three days, she was looking around for some clues at her house.

She found nothing worthwhile, which would connect her mother note to Naruto Uzumaki. It reminded her that principal son was a really 'troublesome' person in every possible way. And worst of all he heard her saying, meow, meow.

The ending result of this week was a conclusion that Boruto Uzumaki is really annoying her. Although by this sole fact she caught herself thinking about him too often than necessary.

"Ughh... Mom isn't at home. Again." Sarada sighed and just stayed in her room, since laying in bed was her priority during the weekends. It was her only time where she could completely relax since she usually was done with every work, which she needed to do.

"If she isn't here I can't tell her about my phone being broken or rather useless." Talking to empty air wasn't really helping her in anything, but it made her less lonely sometimes.

The doorbell to the Uchiha household suddenly ringed, what surprised Sarada. Usually, nobody visited her... Except for Chō-Chō, so Sarada was sure that it was her. Without any thought she went out from her room and opened the door for an unexcepted visitor.

Correction. Visitors.

"Why suddenly all of you decided to come for a visit?" Sarada asked Sumire, Chō-Chō and Boruto, which were standing in her front door discussing something.

"See! I told you that she was at home. Sarada is my best friend after all. You owe me ten bags of potato chips, Boruto", said Chō-Chō with an overconfident manner.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. Just stop throwing this fact in my face, ya know?" answered to Sarada best friend, Boruto.

"Uwawauwah! Stop both of you! We should answer Sarada question first!" Sumire stepped in and Sarada Uchiha suddenly felt that the calm atmosphere, which she always experienced during weekends will stop being calm in the near, upcoming future.

"Yeah, before I let you all in into my house I would appreciate an explanation," Sarada claimed and her onyx eyes looked like she wanted to punch someone for destroying her peaceful Saturday.

"I wanted to talk with everyone about club matters, but Sumire is still mad at Shikadai, so I couldn't bring him with us, ya know! "

Sarada sighed. It seems that Shikadai didn't apologised Sumire yet, but at the same time it was a hard task to apologise a person, which was completely avoiding you.

"Alright, alright you all can stop standing in the corridor and come in."

"Thanks, Sarada!' They all said in unison and without any hesitation behaved like it was their own house.

Chō-Chō, Boruto and Sumire were now sitting on a black couch near the wooden table in a living room.

"Coffee? Tea? Anything you all want to drink?" If she had guests at least she should take care of their needs. Her Uchiha pride was hanging on a thin line if she wouldn't treat them well.

"I want a cola, Sumire probably wants hot chocolate and Boruto would like to drink coffee with milk." Chō-Chō went ahead and decided what Sumire with Boruto wants to have for a drink, even if they personally didn't say anything in that matter.

"Alright, I will come back in a few minutes."

After these words, Sarada started to go to the kitchen in order to prepare requested drinks for everyone sitting in a living room. The fact that the person, which was seeing her in an embarrassing moment not too long ago, named Boruto Uzumaki was here as well made Sarada really nervous. She hoped that he won't tell anyone about her 'meowing'.

Soon she found herself in the kitchen and sighed. What will happen to her calm weekends from now on? 

・・・・★・・・・★ ・・・・

"So this is Sarada house, huh? Ya know... I excepted to be it more gloomy and dark, but it's really normal", said Boruto carefully observing everything around him.

"I know it's hard to believe, but Sarada isn't that much into the dark stuff, you know? She is more of a book lover, so I bet that her room is a mini-sized library more than anything, which you had in mind." Chō-Chō stated in her 'I know it better than you" tone of voice. It irritated Boruto more than Sarada calling him an idiot.

"Ummm... You said that we came with club matters, but in reality, you are interested in Sarada, don't you, Boruto?", confronted the blond about the matter, Sumire. Her boldness made Boruto cough louder or rather fake coughing. He wasn't ready for this sort of conversation. Where did Sumire get that idea?

Boruto wasn't sure if he wanted to know what is inside Sumire Kakei head and why she started this topic near Chō-Chō, which was Sarada best friend.

"I-I'm not interested in her t-that way! I just want to be her friend, but she is difficult to deal with." He defended himself from those claims, which just confirmed Sumire suspicions in that area.

"Right. At beginning, all guys want to be just 'friends' with a girl, but later throw themselves at her! How we can be both sure that you won't throw yourself at Sarada!?" Chō-Chō pointed out her finger on Boruto in an accusing manner.

"Hey, I'm not throwing myself on anyone! It's just stupid stereotype, ya know! Out there exists a lot of normal friendships between males and females, Chō-Chō. It's just you're saying this basing it on your experience with your ex-boyfriends, don't you? You lead these poor guys into thinking that they can have a chance with you, but later you're rejecting them by saying 'Hey, let's be friends!' Me wanting to be Sarada friend has nothing to do with your way of thinking!" Boruto tried to get back at Chō-Chō using these precise words.

He didn't understand why Chō-Chō was thinking that he wanted to throw himself on Sarada. It was a stupid idea in the first place. Throwing himself on her would just make her hate him and that would cancel his goal of being Sarada friend. Besides she already considered him annoying, so he wasn't wanting to know how she would react if he would do something like that without warning her about it.

Though teasing Sarada was amusing, Boruto was usually careful to not go overboard with it. He just knew her for five days, so invading Sarada personal space wasn't an option.

Geezz, Chō-Chō and her stupid ideas irritated him. By her, he started to imagine a scenario in which he is throwing himself on Sarada and what would happen afterwards.

And after thinking it through he knew the answer. He would be punched in the face. He was sure of it!

"Uwawaah! Calm down both of you. I was just interested why Boruto wants to be Sarada friend so badly," whispered Sumire who was caught in the middle of this pointless argument.

"Eh? You could put it into your words a little bit better, ya know. I want to be her friend, since teasing her is amusing and fun." Yeah, that was his official reason for wanting to be Sarada friend. Unofficial one was that he wanted to see her without this perfect mask, which she was putting in front of others.

"Booring! Though I agree that teasing Sarada is amusing. It's rare to see her losing composure, but when she does it's really funny to watch her! From what Sumire said you're doing a good job in irritating her, Boruto! Keep it up for me", Chō-Chō winked at him after saying those words.

"Get lost", Boruto hissed, but Chō-Chō completely ignored his cold words. Sumire just started praying for Sarada to come back with their drinks. She didn't know how long she can stand Chō-Chō and Boruto arguing about their clashing ideologies. However part of her was very happy that Boruto started moving on from Asami. It was a good sign for miss Kakei, but the main problem was Shikadai, which still had feelings for that girl.

Asami Kinoshita was still a thorn in her eyes, which created a big wall standing in her way. Sumire never liked her and probably this will not change. Sumire was really mad that Shikadai wasn't telling her truth about this girl, but she would get to know it sooner or later. No matter what it takes.

After all, this was the main reason why she was mad at Shikadai, but thinking about her motivations was stopped by Sarada appearing in a living room and giving everyone their drinks.

"So what club matters made you all come into my house?" Sarada asked and sit on a white couch across the black couch, where all three of them were sitting.

"We came to visit to deepen our power of friendship with you!" shouted Chō-Chō, but was completely ignored by everyone.

"It will take some time, so can you all be patient and listen to me?" asked Boruto in a serious manner, but for some reason, Sumire had a bad feeling about it. Though she probably was just paranoid and everything will turn out alright.

"Go ahead", responded Sarada and took a sip of her black tea. For some reason, she felt that the upcoming subject will be interesting and exciting to her. Though she wouldn't complain if her free time would be calmer. 


	12. Chapter Eleven

"Like you know our club will be taking the part in an upcoming game tournament, but before that, we must take care of the most important matter. Actually, I completely forgot about it until one of the teachers talked with me." Boruto said looking nervously at all three girls gathered here. He still felt uncomfortable after a conversation with Sumire and Chō-Chō.

"Yeah, I remember that you all mentioned something about upcoming game tournament when I joined the club this week" commented Sarada. She still hoped that Boruto will not mention anything about her saying 'meow' to a cat.

"Although it seems you want to talk about the matter, which you forgot." She added after taking a second sip of her black tea. Sarada loved snacks based on black tea flavour. Although she wasn't eating them often.

"Yay! Let's talk about boring stuff!" Chō-Chō started pouting. She wanted to talk about something exciting or start teasing Boruto again. Romance, drama things like that. Talking about the club activities without all club members was not that thrilling or exciting.

"Hey, who knows? Maybe it will be something interesting Chō-Chō." Sumire words were completely useless since Chō-Chō already started to be in her own little world.

"Instead of gossiping can you all already listen to me?" asked again in a polite manner the only present male member of their club. Boruto, unlike Shikadai or Mitsuki, was a club president, so skipping a club meeting wasn't something he could do without any consequences. After a short moment of waiting, he decided it's safe to speak now without any interruptions.

"Our club must organise games for the sports festival. Ya know, prepare needed things and think about some fresh ideas in general. It's basically what our club is obliged to do every year," heavy sigh escaped from his mouth. Sometimes he was wondering why he wanted to be a club president?

Oh, right. Asami convinced him to be the one. Looking back he always wanted to impress her, even if in the end he did stupid things. That thought reminded him about memories, which he wanted to forget.

"Games for a sports festival? Do you mean that event, which is used to torture students?" Sarada words brought Boruto back to reality. Miss Meow, meow wasn't that bad like he thought earlier. Yeah, she still irritated him, but after personally seeing her trying to pet a cat she wasn't that bad to deal with now.

"Why do you think this event exists to torture students?" Boruto directed this question to Sarada holding back his laughter. In response, she eyed him with a suspicious glare.

"Sarada never liked this event from what I remember. She's too much into competitions for her own good," explained with an absent-minded look, Chō-Chō.

"Hey, I like good challenges," said in her defence Sarada.

"Excuses," snorted Chō-Chō.

During this whole conversation, Sumire was feeling like a fourth-wheel this time. Great. Not that the third-wheeling was something pleasant either.

"Can we come back to the topic at hand?" Sumire demanded clearly fed up of being ignored by everyone.

"Sure" responded Boruto and Sarada in unison. That surprised both of them.

"I knew it! You both have a lot in common. I'm a genius!" screamed excited by something miss Akimichi.

"No way," stated Boruto with an overconfident manner. Sarada decided it's better to ignore the comment of her best friend. She agreed with the 'idiot' this time.

"Ummm... I'm here too" muttered Sumire. She wasn't invisible, right?

"Yeah, yeah sports festival we get it, but why you all visited my house? To just tell me about it?"

"Nah, not really, Sarada. We visited you to ask for a favour", admitted weakly the blond. He usually was helping people. Not the other way around. If it would be Chō-Chō, Sumire, Shikadai or Mitsuki he would be more confident about asking for help. However, Sarada was a different case. He met her just a few days ago and she was irritating him, yet he wanted to befriend her at the same time. 

At this moment Boruto started questioning his credibility as a person. Yes, part of him wanted to be her friend, although thought to befriend her to win theirs bet passed his mind more than once. That worse part of him wanted for Sarada to regret calling him an idiot.

Heh, that's what happens with him after getting over a major heartbreak? No, he was a better person than her. A better person than Asami. It doesn't mean he should use other people as she used him. Damn memories. They were standing in his way to make new friends lately.

"A favour?" Sarada voice brought him back to reality again. Yeah, he should focus on the present situation. That will be the best solution for everyone.

"We need a place to take care of additional work during the weekends, ya know? I heard from Chō-Chō that your house would be the best place for that. Can we come here until the work for a sports festival is done?" Boruto forced himself to show a smile. He was incredibly tired of all events, which happened during this week.

"Sure, why not? Under the condition that you all don't destroy this place." Sarada responded with a frown. Yeah, goodbye calm weekends. She should see it coming.

"Really? It means a lot, ya know! Thank you" sighed relieved, Boruto. During this whole discussion, he didn't even notice that they all finished their drinks.

"I clean this up."

After those words, Sarada stood up to take every mug from the table. Even now her expression didn't change that much. Boruto pretty much deduced what she feels based on her words in the entire conversation. His instinct was telling him to help her washing this mugs for some strange reason.

He hated chores! Why he should be bothered about some dirty mugs?!

"I will help you." This words came out naturally from his mouth, ironically contradicting his entire thinking process. Before he knew what he was doing, he found himself in the kitchen together with Sarada.

Sumire and Chō-Chō just stared in a direction where their friends went.

"Do you think that he really wants to throw himself at her?" asked Chō-Chō. She was just joking earlier, but this time she started really think that was the case.

"I don't think so. Though I think that Sarada presence is helping him in regaining passion for his hobbies. She brings in him a competitive side and thanks to that Boruto started to play in games again. I honestly doubt that he noticed it himself." Sumire shook her head in disbelief.

"If that's the case my gut feeling was right and I made the right decision in convincing Sarada to join our club." Chō-Chō sent a friendly smile to Sumire, but in a response, she got from her a deadly glare.

"I will not lose to you," she mumbled the words, which she always wanted to say in regards to her feelings for Mitsuki. Sumire considered Chō-Chō a rival in love.

"What? What are you talking about?" answered confused Chō-Chō, however, Sumire decided to not bother answering her question. The atmosphere between them started to be awkward.

・・・・★・・・・★ ・・・・

That same Saturday Mitsuki and Shikadai had a meeting at the park. Unlike the other club members, they both couldn't go to Sarada house for different reasons.

Shikadai couldn't come since he underestimated Sumire anger. Mitsuki was excluded from the group in order to fight with his stalking habits.

"Ahhh! What a drag. I didn't think that saying a simple 'sorry' will be that troublesome," complained to the silver-haired guy, Shikadai. 

"It is simple. You both just making it more complicated," stated honestly, Mitsuki.

"Thanks. If I wanted to hear a brutal and honest answer I would go to talk with Inojin, not hanging out with you."

"Inojin is hard to deal with. I don't understand how you can be one of his best friends, Shikadai."

"Inojin isn't that bad to deal with. At least you know what he's really thinking, besides he has his cool moments. I think the main reason why you think he's hard to deal with is that his personality is similar to your own. Though Inojin doesn't have any stalking habits like you." Shikadai response stated the truth. Mitsuki was fully aware that he was a pretty good stalker. Everyone was knowing that he was stalking Boruto. However, Boruto himself was oblivious to it.

Mitsuki owned a small altar with Boruto photos in his room. He was really proud of his photo collection. He met small issues with his past girlfriend when she discovered Boruto pictures while visiting his house. She was utterly pissed, so he broke up with her.

"You wouldn't bring Inojin in our conversation without a reason. What's up?" Mitsuki couldn't help, but be interested why Shikadai mentioned Inojin right now.

"I need some time to think, so I was thinking about visiting him right now. I would bring Chō-Chō with me, but she went to Sarada house. I contacted you since I thought you don't have any plans this weekend."

"Oh, it explains a lot why you stopped using your catchphrase. You the one who is troublesome now, eh?"

"Sometimes I think you're the best company when you don't say anything. It's a total drag." summed up this entire discussion Shikadai. Both him and Mitsuki started walking in the direction of Inojin house. 

・・・・★・・・・★ ・・・・

Boruto and Sarada were washing together mugs in awkward silence. Young Uzumaki still tried to figure out the reason behind his sudden urge to help with chores. Fighting with his inner thoughts he decided to keep his sanity by saying something to this Uchiha lady. 

"Did you find some information about your mom note to my father?" He decided to ask this question after making himself comfortable with speaking his mind.

"No. I looked around the whole house, but I didn't find anything important." Sarada answered when all mugs were already clean.

"I see. It seems we on the same boat right now. I didn't found anything important either, ya know," stated the blond.

"I see."

Damn! The awkward silence came back again. He needed to talk about something or else he will go crazy.

"So should I start calling you officially lady or miss meow, meow?" Boruto teased her but wasn't prepared for a reaction which Sarada displayed.

She was blushing. Sarada Uchiha was blushing in front of him. He doubted that the reason for this reaction was his presence. Maybe he was hallucinating? Boruto blinked his eyelids a few times feeling disbelief.

"My family have a long history involving cats, but it doesn't mean you can call me lady or miss meow, meow!"

Sarada reaction on his teasing was amusing and adorable. He tried very hard to not laugh at her right now.

"I was just joking, ya know? You don't need to have a long family history to like cats. " Boruto couldn't stop now his laughter.

"You're annoying."

"I know. You already told me that. Geez, I will never understand girls" muttered Boruto partially to himself. Coming here was actually a good idea. For a moment he forgot about all his problems.

After he calmed down his laughter both he and Sarada came back to Sumire and Chō-Chō, which were sitting in a living room.


	13. Chapter Twelve

Shikadai ringed the doorbell waiting for Inojin or for his parents to open the door leading to Yamanaka household. It didn't help that Mitsuki watched his actions like a newborn baby or a hawk. Mitsuki glares made Shikadai feel uncomfortable for a few reasons.

First of all, Mitsuki didn't know what Shikadai said to Sumire and that Mitsuki is partially responsible for the whole mess. Young Nara wasn't sure if his friend even knew about Sumire feelings towards him. Ha! He wasn't even sure what Mitsuki is feeling towards Sumire, not to mention what would he do if he knew the whole context of Sumire anger towards Shikadai.

"I didn't know Inojin family was rich. This house seems very fancy," commented Mitsuki, since nobody responded to the ringing doorbell.

"It's troublesome, but his mom is the owner of the popular line of boutiques and flower shops, while his dad is a famous artist," said bored with the subject Shikadai. He was more worried about how to apologise Sumire than about Inojin family at the present moment. In the first place, he came to visit Inojin to relax, ask about some things and forget about his problems.

"Is that so? His background seems completely different than mine, but you still call us similar. I don't understand how we are similar if we have a different background, Shikadai." Mitsuki complained, even though he was aware that Shikadai wouldn't explain to him why he is similar to Inojin.

The black door to the Yamanaka household opened, but due to Shikadai surprise, the one who welcomed them at the front door was Inojin mother, Ino Yamanaka.

"Hi, Shikadai I didn't see you here lately. Are you came here to visit, Inojin? And who is that handsome boy with a silver hair standing next to you?"

Shikadai sighed at aunt Ino words. Although she was really pretty women with long blonde hair tied in a ponytail, blue eyes, porcelain skin and had a good fashion taste... She was talking too much and that made her troublesome to deal with.

However, it was better to deal with aunt Ino than her husband Sai. You can tell that aunt Ino husband had a very interesting way of interacting with people.

"Hello, auntie. The guy standing behind me is Mitsuki. He is one of my classmates in high school. Yeah, I came to visit Inojin." Shikadai answered in the most casual manner as usual. Inojin and Shikadai visiting each other was their daily routine before both of them enrolled in different schools.

"In that case please come in. Inojin should come back from his additional art lessons in a minute or two, " responded to him in a happy manner, Ino.

Both Shikadai and Mitsuki found themselves in the middle of the Yamanaka household living room. The tables, chairs and even red carpets with big sized TV were screaming that Inojin parents are very rich. Well, it wasn't that surprising for Shikadai, but Mitsuki was a completely different case.

"Rich modern houses are amazing." Summarised the whole decor atmosphere, still shocked with how houses can be so big, Mitsuki.

"They are, aren't they?" Shikadai nodded more to himself than to his companion.

You could describe Inojin as the definition of a pretty boy or in simpler terms a mini copy of the aunt Ino. Shikadai wouldn't be surprised if some people would mistake his friend for a girl if he would decide to wear a dress. That vision for some reason was very terrifying.

Just like aunt Ino said, Inojin came back very soon and although slightly annoyed with that Shikadai didn't inform him about the visit he still greeted him in a polite way...

"Oh, hello Shikadai! Your hair looks too much like fruit as it always does and who is that silver hair dude? He looks like silver hair alien. That brings a question... Do aliens have a di-"

Shikadai poked Inojin before his words would make Mitsuki mad. Although young Nara realised that it is probably the most polite greeting ever!

The most polite greeting coming from Inojin mouth.

"Yo, Inojin that is Mitsuki, Mitsuki that is Inojin."

"Nice to meet you, I guess" muttered Inojin to Mitsuki.

"This is the part where I would tell 'nice to meet you too', but you started to question our relationship and it didn't even start yet. Shikadai, your friend is very rude." Mitsuki glared at Inojin in an unpleasant manner.

"What a drag... Mitsuki, you shouldn't take Inojin words seriously, since he likes messing with people" sighed Shikadai.

"Although the subject about my hobbies would be more interesting I doubt you came to talk about them, right Shikadai?" Inojin sounded a little disappointed while asking this question.

"I came here to talk about certain 'troublesome' girl" ignoring Inojin comment, Shikadai steered the conversation into the right direction.

"Troublesome girl? I was thinking that in your life the only troublesome girl was your mother and Asa... Nevermind." Inojin averted his blue eyes feeling a little bit guilty for mentioning Asami not knowing if that 'Mitsuki" knows about Shikadai feelings regarding her.

"Naahh, it isn't about my mother or her. The troublesome girl is Sumire this time." Mitsuki nodded like he knew that it will be their main discussion topic and pretended not to hear anything about some 'Asa..' girl. It looked like atmosphere was getting awkward just by mentioning her name.

"So Sumire avoids or ignores me like I'm a pebble after I said a few words too much and by that, I can't even apologise her for my harsh words. It is such a drag, but I prefer to be with her on friendly terms."

Shikadai explained his problem and Mitsuki shook his head a little bit amused. He and Shikadai talked about every possible method in how to apologise Sumire this entire week, so it started to be very a boring topic for him.

"Huh? So why you just don't go and apologise her? You can buy her flowers, sing a ballad or something like that. If she ignores you go to her, kneel and shout "I AM SORRY LADY SUMIRE, PLEASE FORGIVE ME AS I AM JUST A PEBBLE KNOWN AS SHIKADAI NARA." Inojin gave his advice while stopping himself from laughing.

"I agree with him in terms of solving problems. When I had a problem with people asking too much about my parent gender I shouted for a while that he is a man, but a woman at heart. After that they never asked me about Orochimaru gender ever again" Mitsuki agreed with Inojin idea.

"What a drag... You guys aren't helping me at all, but I think you both have a point and I should confront Sumire even if she ignores me." Although he said those words Shikadai planned to write to himself a little note that he shouldn't ask those two for advice, or help in the future. Especially in the case where he would have a more complicated problem. Well, at least he still can relax at Inojin house and forget about his problems for now.

・・・・★・・・・★ ・・・・

Boruto, Sumire and Chō-Chō left Sarada house not too long ago. It made Sarada feel very uncomfortable after she came back to sitting alone in her own room just as she originally planned.

Sarada liked silence, but it was the first time where the quiet atmosphere of the house was bothering her in a different way than usual. Although she wouldn't admit it that unexcepted visit of the club members for some reason soothed her loneliness a little bit.

Though when they left she felt more lonely than usual. Sarada knew it but still focused on reading her book until she heard a commotion in a living room.

"Sarada, I'm home!" shouted Sakura Uchiha or in other words her mom.

Sarada came out a little bit surprised that her mom is at home today. When she saw Sakura, she practically stopped herself from blinking due to shock.

Sarada took her time to see and remember how beautiful is her mother. Emerald catlike eyes, pale skin and middle lengthed pink hair combined with a red dress painted the unforgettable image of beauty.

Beauty, which should be unforgettable if Sarada would see her more often. At least that was Sarada bitter thoughts when she saw her mother after they had a big argument last Saturday.

"Welcome home mom, but why are you here? I thought you were busy this weekend." Sarada started the conversation, but Sakura eyed her suspiciously.

"I sent to you a message from my phone. Don't tell me you didn't read it?" Sakura started to be worried about Sarada memory at this precise moment.

"Oh, I f-forgot to tell you, mom... My phone is broken and can't be repaired due to a certain incident at school." Sarada responded an tried to be calm, even if she still felt that her mother wasn't happy about her decision to join the club at all.

"..."

After this short discussion silence dawned upon them both. Their relationship was a little worse than in the past. However, at that time grandma Tsunade was still alive. Tsunade Senju was an older, but very beautiful women. Sarada always admired her blonde hair tied into two ponytails, fierce brown eyes and how grandma looked better in green clothes than Sarada herself.

Tsunade Senju was a person who started Sarada passion for gambling and games in the first place. Although she wasn't here with Sarada anymore, they shared a similar dream. Sarada just as she wanted to own a travelling casino. Travelling casino would work in a similar way to the circus, but instead of the performers or the animals, inside would be a regular casino.

Sarada never remembered when she started to dream about her own travelling casino, but she knew that in honour of her grandma Tsunade death she would do everything to make this dream come true. No matter what.

However, Sakura due to circumstances of Tsunade death was completely against the idea and tried to convince Sarada in pursuing a different dream. Maybe grandma death at that time affected her mother too much since Sarada recalled that their relationship started to be more distant after they attended grandma funeral.

Maybe Sakura Uchiha didn't want for Sarada to travel and leave her alone just like her husband. Sarada wasn't planning to ask her mother about that. Something was holding her back. She knew if she asked her mother all the questions about what was bothering her their relationship would improve or get much more worse. Why she didn't do it?

It's simple. Sarada hid her emotions near her mother too long to demand from Sakura the honest answers. It sounded stupid, but she was afraid to change their current relationship. Sarada was scared that the contact, which she has with her mother right now would disappear if both of them would tell what they really feel.

"You should quit that club, Sarada. I cannot live through losing someone dear to me again." Sakura told her after a few minutes of the awkward silence. Although it pained her to do it Sarada ignored her mother comment for the time being. 

・・・・★・・・・★ ・・・・

Shikadai met with Sumire at the park and started to be nervous looking at her. It seemed that she was still mad and wasn't too happy about meeting with him right now.

"I'm sorry for my words at the former club meeting towards you. I wasn't too happy about you digging about my feelings for Asami. I'm not ready to tell everything to you yet, besides to tell you everything I will need Boruto constent. However, me picking on your feelings towards Mitsuki was very uncalled for. Again, I'm really sorry." Shikadai apologised Sumire from the bottom of his heart.

"Apology is accepted under one condition" responded Sumire, but now she at least smiled and didn't looked like she wanted to kill him.

"And that condition is?"

"Answering my question. D-do you know by a-any chance if Chō-Chō has a crush on Mitsuki?

Sumire question left Shikadai speechless. That was her condition? He thought that she will demand something completely different. Though answering her question was less troublesome than what he had in mind.

"I don't know if Chō-Chō has a crush on him, to be honest. What interests me more is why you have a crush on him in the first place?" Shikadai asked not being sure if he is now entering into the dangerous territory of their conversation.

"Hmm... I will tell you why I have a crush on Mitsuki if you tell me about your past with Asami." Sumire answer was something he excepted, so he just nodded.

Unknown to them someone overheard their conversation by accident. Chō-Chō Akimich was behind one of the park trees since she was waiting here for her next boyfriend or like Boruto says one of her 'poor victims'. Sumire and Shikadai talking about her feelings towards Mitsuki made her wondering if she really has a crush on him.

Her mind and her heart started to be in turmoil due to that thoughts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN:  
> Congratulations for every person, which managed to read this story until this chapter. I know GoF isn't perfect, but it will always have a special place in my heart. I hope that, even though it's more slice of life/romance that giving it chance/reading it was really enjoyable. x'DD I hope that my writing has improved in comparison to the chapter one for example. 
> 
> I consider Tsunade a pretty major character in Naruto/Boruto and her death is important to the plot, so yeah I'm sorry!
> 
> In other words - hope you all stay for upcoming chapters!
> 
> Yours Clumsy Author Karinrumi ;)


	14. Chapter Thirteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is with a special dedication for anakrlns that helped when I was confused, while using Tumblr. Once again thank you for helping me out!

Two weeks passed away as well seasons changed. It was now winter, which left Shikadai usually in the grumpy mood. He always disliked snow, since unlike Boruto he found walking on it really annoying. If Shikadai would be an animal, he would for sure prefer to go into sleep hibernation and not doing anything during the winter at all.

However his conversation with Sumire made him think about talking with Boruto. Boruto that was currently defending himself from a crowd of fangirls. His main reason for forgetting Boruto poularity was caused by seeing him often either at the club or Sarada's house, of course not counting classses.

It was pain in the ass, but visiting Sarada's house with the entire club helped them a lot with preparations for upcoming Sport Festival. If everything goes smoothly they should end preparing everything during this week and allow themselves to laze around afterwards.

In a short summary of events, winter, his past love and talking to Boruto was the last thing he wanted to do. Turning into the animal in order to hibernate on the other hand was taking the first place in the things he wanted to do right now.

When walking through school corridors the crowds of students chattering, running to theirs lockers and being excited about upcoming winter break would nearly squish him like a bug on the way. Great. Shikadai personally thought he somehow managed to survive walking through to his locker due to him being lazy and too much sleepy to care about squeaking Boruto fangirls.

Shikadai thanks to recent events almost forgot that his childhood friend is Mr. Popular guy in theirs school. Young Nara always was thinking that popularity is too much troublesome to deal with and it's better to have a nap than being worshipped.

It wasn't a subject that Shikadai wanted to intiate considering his role in the whole story, but Sumire being mad at him again would be too much troublesome to deal with.

"Hey, Boruto." Shikadai couldn't help feeling sleepy and yawned. The few female students around Boruto sent to him a nasty stare. It seemed that Boruto didn't care about surronding them girls and instead waved to him with a big plastered smile on his face.

"Yo, Shikadai! Thanks for the rescue!" Boruto said feeling relieved. Yeah, he was attention seeker, but being the source of attention this morning was really ovewhelming for him.

"No problem. Can we talk about something?" Shikadai emerald eyes expressed his annoyance with Boruto fangirls, which were spying on them behind the lockers.

"Sure, what's up?" Boruto response was causal as ever, but Shikadai knew his happy-go-lucky expression will soon change.

"It's about Asami. Sumire want to know what happened between her and us that day. Can I tell her the truth?" Boruto expression just like he excepted changed. His bright smile dissappeared and it was enough to scare some of the fangirls still hiding behind the lockers.

"It's fine if Sumire will know the truth, ya know? I figured out it would've come up sooner or later." Bortuo voice slightly cracked and he looked down on the floor. That's why Shikadai was avoiding talking about it until now.

"Is it really?" Shikadai raised his left eyebrow, not believing in what Boruto said at all. His childhood friend was really good actor, but this time it was easy to notice that he was lying.

"It is, ya now? Personally I don't feel comfortable talking about it, but if you do... Feel free to tell Sumire whatever you want." Although the conversation itself was unpleasant, at least Shikadai got a permission to talk about it with Sumire. It was rare for young Nara to see his friend that depressed just by mentioning someone else's name. Winter sucked.

"Please, go out with me!" The gloomy mood was broken by the shout of the girl standing behind the locker, while other fangirls looked at her with a mix of anger and jealousy. The girl ignored them and hugged Boruto when she noticed he let his guard down.

Shikadai found the way she throwed herself onto Boruto really distrubing, but decided to leave them alone.

"Shikadai, help me!" Young Nara ignored the words of his friend and decided to go to the classroom. He had lot of things to think about, especially how he wasn't the biggest fan of the snow for example.

It was strange like things changed during last year. Asami wasn't here anymore, but it helped him to form a better contact with Sumire. On the other Boruto started to be more distant from him as friend. However the fact Shikadai disliked winter didn't change at all.

"Traitor!" Boruto scream echoed throughout the whole school.

・・・・★・・・・★ ・・・・

Chō-Chō during the past two weeks was avoiding Sumire as well Mitsuki. She wanted to rewind time and never realise her own feelings in that matter. It seemed Sumire knew something was off with Chō-Chō behaviour, but decided not to mention it to anyone.

"Good morining, Chō-Chō." Sumire appeared behind her like a ghost, so Chō-Chō jumped from being startled.

"S-Sumire! Don't scare me like that. I know everybody loves me, but scaring isn't a good way to win me over!" Sumire probably found her words funny, but decided to ignore them for the time being.

"I didn't see you in a while, but it seems you're the same old Chō-Chō. That's a relief." Chō-Chō started to wonder when Sumire learned to use sarcasm.

"I don't know if you're insulting or praising me, but I will take it as compliment." Chō-Chō answer lacked her usual positivity and she was cursing herself for not being composed. She wished in that moment to turn into Sarada and stay composed, even if her feelings were currently a one big mess.

"Chō-Chō, can I ask you something?" Sumire asked in a serious tone of voice.

"S-sure, you can always ask me anything!" Chō-Chō replied, but she knew that she will regret her words soon. After all she suspected why Sumire wanted to talk with her.

"Good. I will be really straightfoward. Do you love Mitsuki?" Sumire violet eyes as well posture didn't show any hestitation. Chō-Chō always thought about her as timid girl, but in this precise moment was admiring Sumire confidence in expressing her feelings.

"Y-yeah, I probably do." Chō-Chō stuttered. Her words lacked the same confidence, which Sumire had when she asked this question.

However Sumire instead of laughing or mocking her insecurity fell silent. After a minute her friend just nodded like the answer she heard was something completely natural.

"I see, so you already know that you have feelings for Mitsuki. It took you longer thant I thought it would." Sumire comment made Chō-Chō really surprised.

"Do you love Mitsuki too, Sumire?" Chō-Chō gulped. She should know the answer. After all she overheard Shikadai talking with Sumire about her crush on Mitsuki. But hearing the direct answer from Sumire was much more important to Chō-Chō than making blind guesses, or false assumptions.

"Yes, I do. That's why I asked if you love him. I thought it would be unfair to confess my feelings to Mitsuki without knowing yours feelings. I wouldn't care if some other girl had feelings for him, but unlike the other girls you're my friend, Chō-Chō. And that makes you special, you know?" Sumire words reached her heart. It was the first time where other girl her age called Chō-Chō friend and it wasn't Sarada.

"Heh. That's very nice of you, but why bother talking with me? I thought you think of me as rival in love, correction awesome rival in love!" Chō-Chō words started to be cheerful again. It was like a huge boulder in her heart was lifted after hearing out how Sumire feels.

"It seems you're better at reading my intentions than I thought, Chō-Chō. I still plan to confess my feeling to Mitsuki during the winter break, you know?!" Sumire sighed seeing overly happy reaction of her friend.

"So I will confess my feelings for Mitsuki during the winter break too! No hard feelings if he chooses me, kay?" Sumire couldn't bring herself to hate Chō-Chō, even if her words annoyed her.

"Uwahwahwah! Not so fast miss Akimichi! There is a chance he will choose me or reject both of us. In the scenrio where he rejects us we should date each other!" Sumire joked and Chō-Chō laughed.

"I know, I know captain, Sumire! You tried to tell me that no matter what happens we will still be friends, right?! It's such a roundabout way, but I'm used to it thanks to Sarada."

The laughter and joking accompanied them on their way to the school.

・・・・★・・・・★ ・・・・

Sarada was walking alone through the crowd of students and met by accident Boruto who tried to escape from hugging him girl. She decided to ignore the fact that Mitsuki was hiding behind the school lockers together with other Boruto's fangirls. It was too much for her to deal with at morning.

"Y-Yo, Sarada, how are you doing?!" Boruto tried to use his puppy dog eyes on Sarada, but it didn't have any effect on her.

"..." Silence was the only answer Sarada could come up with. She decided to look at the girl, which was hugging Boruto.

"Waaah! Ice queen of our school is here!" The girl shouted, stopped holding Boruto and ran to the classroom.

Boruto whistled impressed with how just one stare could have this sort of effect on others.

"You're really annoying." Sarada said feeling upset that other students ran away from her too. She only looked at them!

"I know. By the look of it you aren't really a sociable person, ya know?" Boruto gave Sarada an amused look.

"Hnn." Sarada decided to ignore annoying blond and don't tell Boruto about Mitsuki stalking him behind the lockers to have her small revenge. She was perfectly sociable person and was able to talk with people! Probably.

"Hey, where are you going?!" Boruto asked when she directed her footsteps to the classroom.

"To the classroom." It was all she said before school bell started to ring.

・・・・★・・・・★ ・・・・

Lessons ended, so Sarada headed to the clubroom. It seemed Sumire was the only other person here.

"Good afternoon, Sarada." Sumire answer was really energetic.

"Good afternoon, where are the other members?" Sarada considered this question as part of her daily routine. She still didn't believed how past few weeks changed her life.

"Boruto is talking with a teacher, Chō-Chō said she will be late, Shikadai is currently at the director office and Mitsuki should be here soon." Sumire explained why the other club members were currently absent.

"Thank you." Sarada blurted out those words by accident.

"For what?" Sumire asked really confused by the sudden expression of gratitude coming from Sarada.

"For not judging me due to the rumours and my surname." Sarada thought she would die from embarassment, while saying it out loud.

"You're so cute, Sarada! Hey, hey, do you like adventures?" Sumire smirked in a teasing manner.

"My dream involves travelling, so yes I really like adventures." Talking about her dreams with a person that wasn't her mother or Chō-Chō was really refreshing feeling for Sarada.

Different. Refreshing. To be honest Sarada kind of liked how her school life turned out to be different than she expected.

"Huh, really?! I really like adventures too, so I thought about being an actress, singer or having a job that involves travelling. Up until now I never told anyone about my dream." Sumire admitted to her seriously.

"It's really amazing dream. I hope you make it true!" Sarada always wanted to hear these words from her mother, since she secretly seeked her approval. Sumire eyes lit up and her smile seemed to sparkle more than before.

"In that case I wish for yours dreams to come true as well!" Sumire words were really helpful in making Sarada feel better about her future dreams and goals. She never realised she will meet someone who shares her love for travelling.

"Huufff, hufff! Sorry for being late!" Chō-Chō shouted, while entering the clubroom.

"Chō-Chō, you're actually really early." Sarada whispered rather to herself than to Chō-Chō that walked over and sat on the chair.

"Ehh?! Guys aren't here yet! It makes me question why I was running to the clubroom like a crazy!" Chō-Chō complained to them.

"Because you're Chō-Chō." Sumire chimed in.

"Guys aren't here, so let's talk about them!" Chō-Chō proposed and Sumire agreed with her leaving Sarada without any choice, but accepting to talk about boys.

"I will start! What's yours type of guy, Sarada?" Sarada coughed hearing the question Sumire asked.

"I don't have a type, but if I had to choose one it would be a guy, which would support my dreams." It was the best answer Sarada could give them.

"Sumire and me have a similar taste in guys, so our type is Mitsuki." Chō-Chō claimed without any hestitation.

Sarada brain froze with the knowledge that Sumire and Chō-Chō liked a guy that during this morning was hiding behind the lockers from Boruto.

"Chō-Chō, I think it was too much for Sarada to take in. After all Mitsuki has... Interesting hobbies to say at least." Sumire didn't sound surprised seeing how Sarada reacted in comparision to Chō-Chō.

"We must probably change the subject, since Sarada will really start to be the frozen ice queen. Maybe talking about how great I am will help?!" Chō-Chō realisation was completely out of place.

"Chō-Chō, I don't think talking about you will stop her from being shocked." Sumire chuckled.

"I'm not shocked!" Sarada defended herself.

"By the way I didn't asked, but what's your dream, Sarada?" Sumire decided to change the topic to stop Chō-Chō from talking about her delusions.

"I want to be the owner of a travelling casino." Exposing her dream to Sumire was really hard for Sarada. Chō-Chō on the other hand knew Sarada dream from the start.

"That's really awesome dream, ya know!" Boruto suddenly appeared and the girls wondered how long he was in the clubroom.

"You think it's amazing?" Sarada asked Boruto and ignored for a moment that he could overhear theirs entire conversation.

"I do, ya know! You should talk with us more often, Sarada!" Boruto words left Sarada speechless.

"I'm not really talkative person." Sarada stared down on the floor. Chō-Chō and Sumire winked to Boruto in a meaningful way, but the blond was too focused on Sarada to notice it.

"Ya know, did I by accident hurt yours feelings by saying you aren't really a sociable person, Sarada? If I did I'm really sorry about that." Boruto voice sounded really calm. Sarada always thought his voice was soothing and is similar to the sound of the sea waves. Sarada liked that sound, since it helped her to calm down when she felt frustrated, angry, or sad.

"Apologies accepted." Sarada whispered, but Boruto didn't looked satisfied with her response.

"Hey, hey look at me, Sarada! I can't hear you or see yours expression." Boruto walked over and was standing in front of her. Sarada lifted her head and looked into his blue eyes.

"Apologies accepted!" The words were the same, but this time she shouted them looking directly at Boruto. Sarada was surprised how loud her voice could sound and her eyes widened by seeing Boruto grin. Did he did it on purpose?!

"See! You can do it if you try, Sarada. I'm so proud of you, ya know." Boruto patted Sarada's head in a caring manner.

"You're really annoying."

"I know and you're lady, meow, meow, ya know?" Boruto responded and laughed seeing how shocked Sarada was by his words.

"They should get a separate room. I feel like a third wheel." Chō-Chō complained.

"Welcome to the third wheeling club, Chō-Chō" Sumire smiled and felt happy, since third-wheeling with a friend was a much more enjoyable, than third wheeling alone.

Winter break will come soon and with it a love confessions to Mitsuki from both of them. Sumire knew that theirs relationships depending on Mitsuki answer can change too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN:
> 
> Hello, everyone! This chapter too0k me a while to write and I hope ya all enjoyed reading it just like I enjoyed to write fluffy scenes. Just like usual sorry for my potential mistakes in my writing etc. I can't believe we reach soon the plot climax and I want to thank everyone that is supporting this fic.
> 
> Thank You everyone!
> 
> Yours clumsy author Karinrumi ;)


	15. Chapter Fourteen

**Dedicated to the whole BoruSara discord community!**

・・・・★・・・・★ ・・・・

Sumire took a few deep breaths out and in. She felt nervous, extremely nervous. But who can blame her? She waited two years to confess her feelings to Mitsuki, but something always was getting in her way. If it wasn't, Mitsuki past girlfriends at some points were a convenient excuse for her not to confess.

After the conversation with Chō-Chō before the winter break, Sumire realised her personality was the source of all her problems. Loving someone for so long, but at the same time not being able to confess fearing rejection. Longing for a love she didn't get during her childhood. Pretending to be selfless while in reality, she was really the selfish, horrible monster.

Sumire Kakei wasn't ready for love, but at the same time desperately tried to be loved. She knew it, yet she felt a need to confess to Mitsuki. Why? Why she confronted Chō-Chō about her love for Mitsuki? Wouldn't it be easier not to tell Chō-Chō at all?

Starving for feeling to be loved. Fearing to be loved. Sumire felt like a hypocrite.

"What the hell I was doing during these past few weeks?" Sumire whispered this question to herself. To be honest, the whole mess in her head started when Sarada joined their club. Sumire always thought she was overshadowed by Chō-Chō in many ways. Sarada changed that by pointing out how club members didn't treat her seriously.

Sarada changed many things if it came to Sumire relationships with all of the club members.

Mitsuki was giving her his attention, Boruto paid less attention to everyone in Sarada's presence for comparison. Chō-Chō started to be her rival in love. However, her relationship with Shikadai changed the most to the point where they both respected each other.

All those events lead to the moment when everything started to change a little bit too soon.

With this line of thinking, Sumire arrived at the place she's supposed to meet up with Mitsuki. "Lunatera Café" was her favourite coffeehouse, so it was her idea to meet with Mitsuki here.

Comfortable black sofas, purple walls, nicely decorated tables and friendly atmosphere were the main factors why she liked to spend her time here a lot. It's a perfect place for the love confessions, right?

Sumire noticed that Mitsuki was sitting already at the table near the window. She walked over and tried to relax.

"Hi, did I make you wait?" Sumire asked avoiding eye-contact with him. Mitsuki seemed to notice she was nervous, but not knowing why.

"Yeah, you did. But I don't mind waiting, I'm used to it." Mitsuki being honest with her counted as a reason why she loved him. However, no matter how many reasons she could've love was unreasonable. That's why it was one and only chance to confess her love.

"Uwawawah! I'm so sorry that I made you wait." Mitsuki let out a chuckle hearing her apology. He liked to spend time with both Sumire and Chō-Chō because he considered them one of his closest friends after Boruto.

"Apology accepted." After this short exchange, they ordered their drinks and discussed over what they were doing during this winter break. Sumire thought it looked almost like a date. Almost.

"Mitsuki, can you hear me out?" Mitsuki noded, while she tried to think how to put her feelings into the words. She was wearing a black dress with long sleeves just for this occasion.

"Truth to be told I always admired your honesty. At first, I found your antics in stalking Boruto annoying but soon understood that you're just worried about him a lot. I know underneath that stalker mask you just want for all your friends to be happy. But you have a lot of other good qualities! You're a soft-hearted and handsome as well. I could mention a lot of reasons why I do feel or think about you in that way. But I blame me loving you as main factor. I love you, Mitsuki."

She did it! Sumire couldn't believe how all these words flew out of her mouth and she managed to maintain eye contact with Mitsuki. The same Mitsuki who had shocked expression right now. Are her feelings mutual or not? Time seemed to flow like an eternity.

"I'm happy to know how you feel about me, Sumire. In fact, I think it's the first time where I heard so genuine love confession directed to me. However, I'm not ready to be in a relationship, yet. I'm really sorry, but I don't love you." Mitsuki looked down on the floor after he rejected her.

"I-I s-see. That's fine, y-you know? I can't force you to love me after all. Excuse me, I must go to the bathroom." Sumire responded and very quickly disappeared from Mitsuki's field of vision.

In the back of her mind, she knew that rejection was a possibility. She thought that she was prepared to hear it. However, it didn't matter how many times she convinced herself that everything is alright, she wasn't feeling alright at all.

Reaching to the bathroom, she noticed Chō-Chō walking over to Mitsuki. Did she plan to confess today as well? It wasn't important. She already got the answer and was rejected. Sumire closed the bathroom door and tears appeared in the corners of her eyes. She started to cry feeling awful. Was it selfish of her to want for Mitsuki feel the same way as she does? Sumire didn't know the answer. But she did know that she doesn't want anyone to see her tears.

・・・・★・・・・★ ・・・・

Chō-Chō happened to be at the same café and overheard Sumire's confession towards Mitsuki. How she's supposed to beat that confession now? But hearing Sumire confession gave her the courage to confess to Mitsuki today as well.

That's why Chō-Chō walked over to Mitsuki that had currently a sad smile, while drinking his coffee.

"Yo, it must be rough for you as well. I mean rejecting Sumire." She didn't try to hide the fact she overheard their conversation.

"Were you spying on my conversation with Sumire, Chō-Chō?" Mitsuki rolled his eyes in annoyance. Chō-Chō regretted her words at this moment. Hurting Sumire's feelings was hard for Mitsuki as well. Chō-Chō felt a pang of jealousy. Does Mitsuki really loves Sumire, but rejected her for some other reason than he mentioned? Impossible, right? No, it wasn't. Mitsuki lied to Sumire about his own feelings.

"I just was enjoying my coffee and overheard everything by accident. It isn't my fault you were too much distracted by Sumire's chest to notice I was here the entire time." Chō-Chō snorted. She was the best sarcasm master among all her friends.

"Thank you for your unnecessary commenting skills, Chō-Chō. It helps me realise a lot of things I didn't have an idea about." Mitsuki smiled feeling a little bit better.

"And with my unnecessary commenting skills I will make your situation more complicated because I love you in the same way Sumire is loving you." She blurted out accidentally. It wasn't how she wanted to confess her feelings! Chō-Chō felt like she made a mistake. It wasn't the right time to declare her own feelings.

Unlike Sumire confession, Chō-Chō confession was way more casual. That's how Mitsuki knew Chō-Chō seriously loved him as well.

"I'm sorry, but I must turn you down for similar reasons I turned down Sumire. I'm happy about your feelings towards me, even if I don't love you." Mitsuki seemed more conflicted than before after seeing Chō-Chō looking more depressed than usual.

"It's okay. I admit it hurts me a lot, but being rejected isn't the end of the world for me. Besides, I know you lied about not loving Sumire. You could fool her with your words since she was too nervous, but your act didn't convince me at all." Chō-Chō stated with confidence. The only thing that stopped her from running to the bathroom and starting to cry together with Sumire was her urge to know why Mitsuki lied about his own feelings.

"I'm sorry. I can't tell you my reasons about turning Sumire down, but it's true that I lied about not loving her." Mitsuki words stabbed Chō-Chō heart more than the packet of her favourite potato chips being sold out.

"I'm going to check up on her. I think that lying about your own feelings will cost you more than you're expecting to. I'm telling you this because I love you and care about you as well." Chō-Chō walked away leaving Mitsuki with a lot of unpleasant thoughts. Mitsuki in the depths of his heart knew that Chō-Chō was right for calling him out on that little lie of his.

・・・・★・・・・★ ・・・・

The door to the bathroom opened. It alarmed Sumire that she lost track of time and she tried to wipe the tears with a sleeve of her dress.

"Sumire?" Chō-Chō said softly knowing that although Mitsuki loved her, Sumire thought he didn't.

"Chō-Chō..." It was all she had the strength to say after exhausting herself with crying when Chō-Chō walked over to her.

"I confessed to Mitsuki after witnessing your confession. Thanks to you I had gathered the courage to do it." Chō-Chō admitted to her, but she just felt out of place.

"So Mitsuki loves you?" Sumire couldn't hide the bitterness in her voice.

"Nah, I got rejected as well!" Chō-Chō shook her head like something funny just happened.

"Y-you were rejected?" Chō-Chō being so calm about Mitsuki rejecting her was surprising for Sumire.

"Yeah, I was. It's not the first time when I was rejected, so I'm more immune to rejection than you, Sumire." Chō-Chō smiled in her direction warmly. "I guess that means we should date each other, right?"

Sumire couldn't help but smile a little when Chō-Chō used their little inside joke to lift her spirits up.

"Yes, we probably should." Sumire nodded, but she knew deep down that her feelings for Mitsuki will not fade away so quickly. Perhaps both her and Chō-Chō needed some time alone. It was blessing in disguise that they confessed their feelings to Mitsuki during the winter break.

Sarada was spending the majority of her time reading books and sleeping in the bed. It was her form of relaxing during her free time, but she couldn't help feeling a little lonely by herself. That's why when she heard a doorbell, she opened the door to see Boruto came to visit her without the other club members. Sarada invited him to sit with her in a living room.

"Should I visit you at another time? I think it can be awkward sitting just with me here, ya know?" Boruto tried to confirm if Sarada felt okay being just with him in the same room.

"It's alright. I doubt you can do anything to me." Sarada sighed. She was really bored, so it didn't matter who would help her cure her loneliness.

"Are you looking forward to the school sport festival? This question had an obvious answer. Their entire club put a lot of effort into creating games for that event.

"I do. Though, I can't say I'm looking forward to passing through the large crowds of people." Just like she said the large crowds of students would probably annoy her too much, but nobody could annoy her more than Boruto. He patted her head last time when they talked with each other. She wasn't a freaking animal, but a human being! Wait a minute... Does that mean Boruto thinks she's a domestic pet?!

"You can always stick to me, ya know! I mean to stick with all club members, hehe." Boruto let out an awkward laugh completely unaware of Sarada inner struggle if he thinks she's a pet.

"I don't know if it helps me. I'm not feeling at ease talking with other students, they're too loud." Sarada admitted to him not knowing why she felt the need to explain it to Boruto.

"Is that the reason you called me an idiot during our first meeting? Because I was too loud and made you feel uncomfortable?" Boruto was asking her many questions today, even if she was distracted by how handsome he is. No wonder he had fangirls pinning all over him. He wasn't just handsome but considerate as well.

"No, I was angry because of my destroyed phone due to me bumping into you." Sarada felt it was a really pathetic reason to call someone an idiot while having a bad day. Looking back it was very petty and immature behaviour.

Her phone got destroyed by bumping into him?! That explained her overreaction at the time. Boruto was pretty sure he would've reacted a lot worse than Sarada if his phone would be the one that got destroyed.

"I'm really sorry, ya know! As recompensation, you should go out with me to buy a new phone after the festival. If you want, I won't force you." Boruto proposal was nerve-wracking for him. He wanted to have a positive relationship with Sarada.

"I gladly accept this offer. Chō-Chō complains too much about me not having a phone." Sarada genuinely smiled in his presence. Boruto noticed she looked much more beautiful with this smile. Realising he finds Sarada more attractive than two months ago, Boruto blushed and almost passed out. He needed to stop having such embarrassing thoughts!

"So, you will give me a chance to be your friend?" Yeah, that question should make his imagination stop running wild.

"Only if your intentions about being my friend are honest and you won't use that friendship to win in our bet." Sarada answer was enough to make him happy for now.

"That means a lot coming from you, ya know? I plan to be a great friend then!" Boruto's declaration made Sarada feel a warm, comfortable sensation. Now she could feel completely at ease in Boruto's presence. It's like all remaining doubts within her heart went away.

"It does, so do not take this lightly!" Sarada wanted for him to take her seriously.

"I'm not planning to lady meow, meow!" Boruto shouted and pulled her into a friendly hug which she accepted without protesting too much.

"I'm not lady meow, meow." Sarada started to think that maybe Boruto's is taking her for a cat.

"Your hair smells nice, ya know? Like strawberries." It was after those words when Sarada break out from their friendly hug, feeling that she must be blushing. Boruto coughed and decided that admiring the walls in the living room is more interesting at the moment. When he stared at the walls, she went to prepare black tea for them to drink.

They spend the rest of the day looking for clues around her house to have sort of lead for their bet. In the end, they didn't find anything useful. Maybe it's better they didn't.

"See you after the winter break!" After Boruto visit at her house ended Sarada couldn't help but look forward to meeting him after winter break will end. Sport festival should be more enjoyable with Boruto around, even if she still had a problem in expressing her feelings to other people.


	16. Chapter Fifteen

Sports Festival served as an opportunity to unite students of Konoha High School. However, what made this occasion special for them was the amount of the work they placed in designing entertaining games. Sarada hated the large crowds, but as the extremely competitive person, she enjoyed participating in various contests during this event every year.

"Sarada, we're over here!" shouted Boruto when she noticed him jumping up and down in the middle of the large crowd of students. She ran in the direction of the club members passing through other students feeling relieved that they were here.

"Hnn..." she groaned trying to catch her breath. Running seemed like a stupid thing to do, but a minute ago was a logical option for her. She should add the fifth rule to her mini-book that forbids running in general.

"Hahaha! Look at our stoic Sarada Uchiha running to us like we're experiencing the end of the world. It's priceless seeing her like that, ya know?" Boruto couldn't stop his fit of laughter after seeing Sarada chicken like running.

"Very funny, Boruto! I just didn't want to lose the sight of everyone in this large crowd." Sarada grimaced at his words more than his reaction. "Glad you made it out alive, Sarada!" First to interrupt their bickering was Mitsuki that tried to ignore Sumire and Chō-Chō staring at him.

"Now as the most amazing person in this group, I propose to check out food booths!" Chō-Chō ignored disappointed looks of her friends because she indeed felt like the most amazing in the entire group.

"I'm getting kind of hungry as well so count me in." Sumire supported Chō-Chō's idea since she still was grateful for what she did for her during the winter break.

"What a drag." Shikadai yawned and was less lively compared to others.

The whole club was walking around food booths with Sarada and Boruto bickering about everything, while Mitsuki felt uncomfortable with the presence of two girls he rejected. Meanwhile, Shikadai regretted he can't eat popcorn because observing his friends was more entertaining than a drama movie.

"Mitsuki, come here for a moment." Shikadai sighed being fed up with watching Mitsuki reaction to the whole love triangle happening around him.

"What do you want from me, Shikadai?" Mitsuki whispered a little bit irritated but glad he could get away from Sumire and Chō-Chō for a moment.

"Are you trying to avoid talking with Chō-Chō and Sumire forever?" Shikadai tried to solve at least part of the drama for the sake of his new friendship with Sumire.

"..." A silent response from Mitsuki meant more than any remark.

"You caught yourself in a complicated situation you can't resolve with using your snakes to scare the girls that love you because they're your friends and that puts you in a delicate position. Am I right?" Of course, Shikadai based it on his assumptions.

"For your information, both Sumire and Chō-Chō received a rejection from me. It's normal we're going through awkward talking phase." Mitsuki looked calm on the outside, but Shikadai knew him well enough to know when he's angry.

"Scaring people with snakes isn't a valid strategy for you right know, Mitsuki." Shikadai decided to back down giving his silver-haired friend a warning.

"Thank you for your awesome troublesome sarcasm. Besides you're the one who hides a lot more than me, Shikadai." Mitsuki at this point felt extremely annoyed. He rejected both Sumire and Chō-Chō for personal reasons. His love-life had nothing to do with Shikadai at all.

"Shikadai, Mitsuki you both know me and Sumire can hear everything right?!" Chō-Chō made her and Sumire presence know to the boys.

It wasn't too long before the tense atmosphere between Shikadai and Mitsuki escalated with Sumire and Chō-Chō joining in their quarrel. Sarada stood paralysed while watching Boruto playing a mediator in the group.

"Sarada, can you help me?! At this rate, their arguing will destroy our chances during the games, ya know?" It went to the point Boruto had the problem to deal with his mad at each other friends.

"H-hnn... I-I am not a person you should ask for help. " Sarada averted her gaze trying not to look into Boruto's eyes.

"Why?!" Boruto questioned bitterly. Was he disappointed in her reaction?

"I'm terrible with dealing with my own feelings, not to mention in understanding how other people feel!" Sarada shouted. The whole group fell silent at her outburst of anger. The only person that remained with a sour look in his eyes was Boruto.

"Y-yeah! We should enjoy the Sports Festival instead of arguing with each other." Sumire words stopped the club members from arguing further. They continued visiting the next food booths with an awkward atmosphere.

・・・・★・・・・★ ・・・・

"Brother!", yelled from candy apple booth Boruto's little sister, Himawari.

"Hima, what are you doing here?!" Boruto expressed his surprise, and his younger sister went into a fit of giggles.

"Did you forgot, bro? Sports Festival is the event where visitors not going to your school can enter freely." Himawari sounded disappointed with Boruto not remembering she announced to him her visit during family breakfast.

"Oh, now when you mention it I remember you saying you would come during breakfast. I didn't forget, ya know?" Boruto obviously lied gaining a disapproving look of the club members standing behind him.

"Hehehe! Unfortunately for you, I know you too well, big bro!" Himawari couldn't stop her smile.

"Ehh, I should know you of all people could see through me, Hima." Boruto scratched his nose trying to hide embarrassment. His younger sister was sharp, really sharp when the subject involved his love life.

"I'm a psychic after all! Anyway, I will be rooting for you to win in the next contest and trying to sweep off her feet this beautiful lady next to you." Himawari pointed out towards surprised Sarada.

"Yeah, yeah... I would win even without your suggestive manner of speech, Hima." Sending his sister off to the spot where other visitors were gathering Boruto sighed heavily. This day was meant to be fun for a whole group, but it turned out into a one, big mess. He was thinking about Sarada response to his request for help. Maybe it was too soon for her to open up to him so he should back down?

After all, he decided to befriend Sarada because of his injured ego.

・・・・★・・・・★ ・・・・

" I wanna team up with you, Sarada, ya know?" Boruto stated boldly.

"Sure." Wasn't Boruto still mad at her? With this question in her mind, Sarada agreed to pair up with him.

"Glad you agreed!" Boruto pumped his fist in the air feeling overwhelming joy.

"Idiot..." Sarada mumbled, but Boruto in his joy wasn't worried about this word directed at him in comparison to their first meeting.

The next contest was a three-legged race, so naturally, everyone picked a person to pair-up with. In that way, Mitsuki ended up with Shikadai, since Sumire and Chō-Chō paired up running together towards the goal Sarada decided to initiate a conversation with Boruto.

"Umm... Boruto?" She started being unsure if it's a good idea to ask him this question. However, she promised Chō-Chō to discover why the club president lost passion for gaming.

"Ya know, you can just ask me anything in a straightforward manner, Sarada! Formalities are boring." Boruto answered in the middle of running. Does this guy isn't feeling tired at all? Sarada felt like all her energy was absorbed by this long-distance running and it was hard for her to keep-up with Boruto.

"How you got into gaming? I mean the idea of being president of our club to be precise?" Sarada was really confused about why Boruto wanted to be the club president. He seemed like a guy that was naturally talented but avoided these type of responsibilities.

"Well, ya know... How did you get into gaming? " Boruto decided to respond with his own set of questions.

"It's a long story." Sarada thought that she wasn't ready to tell anyone about her past. At least not now.

"Good, because my story is long too." Was Boruto more upset than before? But why? Did she do something wrong? Sarada couldn't stop feeling worried.

"My bad! I'm not angry at you or anything it's just... ya know... Nevermind! Are you still planning to go buy a new phone with me?" Boruto noticing Sarada's gloomy look started to think of himself as an awful person. That's right he needed to remember she was socially awkward around people.

"Yes, I-I d-do!" Why did she stutter? From what she remembered, she never had a problem with speaking in her life before. What's worse it was always happening when she was together with Boruto. Was he an alien from an unknown planet? Maybe she was ill? It was these sort of excuses that were popping out in her head. In reality, she knew what could this phenomenon mean. She was just too much stubborn to admit it herself.

"Sarada, are you feeling well?" Boruto smirked knowing she went into the state of her chicken-like-running. He held back his urge to explode from laughing at her stoic face during the race.

"I'm a-alright." Sarada pretended that her stuttering comes from her being tired. "I just was thinking a person like you is similar to an alien in our current society." She added after calming down a little and said something crazy by accident.

After her words, Boruto couldn't hold his laughter in anymore and fell down together with Sarada on the ground.

"Hahahahaha! An alien! I'm not handsome, the popular guy in your eyes, but an alien! It's the first time a girl thinks I'm coming from another planet, ya know? It's hilarious!" Boruto's reaction made Sarada forming a pout. What's wrong in suspecting such a cheerful person as Boruto is an alien?! Oh, no! Is she the reason why they lost in the three-legged race?

"I'm sorry, Boruto!" She suddenly shouted.

"Huh? Why?" Sarada sudden apology confused him greatly.

"I'm the reason we lost the race, right? So I'm sorry I dragged you down with me." Boruto didn't know how exactly he should react when Sarada showed little signs of opening up towards him. This strange apology counted into one of these situations where he wasn't confident how he should behave afterwards. He experienced this feeling just with one person in the past. Although, Sarada wasn't fundamentally the same girl... No, it was just his imagination.

"Don't apologise to me! I had a lot of fun, and that's what matters the most, ya know." He petted Sarada's head, untied the rope tying up their legs and helped her to stand up.

"You're right. I h-had a lot of fun as well!" The smile she showed on her face looked a little forced. She probably still blamed herself. Boruto sighed heavily, he has a limited time for making Sarada being more comfortable around him. Time is flowing soon, so that little string of connection between them that is a bet will vanish sooner or later, right? Will, he ever gets to know why Sarada takes winning and losing so seriously? Those dark thoughts started to spin in his head, but he still decided to smile.

・・・・★・・・・★ ・・・・

In the end, Chō-Chō and Sumire were unbeatable pair during all contests and the entire Sports Festival. Sarada really felt foolish about being worked up with winning or losing. Maybe it seemed stupid, but Boruto words saved her from feeling anxious during the entire festival.

_If you're Uchiha, you must always win._

_If you're Uchiha, you can't associate with idiots._

Those rules that she always blindly followed were like chains, but at the same time helped her a lot during the difficult times in her life. Were those rules destroying some parts of her life? She never will know the answers to all her questions.  
Why Boruto was so mad about her questioning how he got into gaming? Remembering why she wanted to join a club in the first place, Sarada started questioning her own motives.

"H-how it ended up like this... I never wanted to..." It wasn't a good idea to say it after all. Sarada never wanted to admit she had a crush on Boruto Uzumaki this entire time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Here it is the chapter 15 of this multi-chap story! Like usual sorry for any mistakes etc. This chapter took me a while to write. It's hard to believe that in this story has already 15 chapters and just couple more will make a finale of the story,  
> Hope ya all enjoyed reading it!
> 
> Your clumsy author - Karinrumi ;)


	17. Chapter Sixteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AN:  
> Uff, Chapter sixteen of GoF is finished! I mean published. I read something angsty and needed to heal from it, so this chapter has a lot of fluff! I will try to at least update one chapter of GoF every month. Maybe two, depending on how fast I polish up the next upcoming chapter. Anyway, like usual hope, the chapter doesn't contain too many mistakes and ya all enjoyed reading it!  
> Your clumsy Author Karinrumi:D

After the events of Sports Festival ended, Sarada had a lot of stuff on her mind. The first question that she asked herself was when her crush on Boruto started?

Looking back on it she always observed him from the shadows before their first meeting. At first, she recognised Boruto Uzumaki as someone with similar family problems, but for some reason more optimistic than her. He was honestly annoying her, Sarada even wrote in her diary special instructions to avoid him. Later learning that Boruto was known as 'troublemaker, she followed those instructions because of his reputation for creating problems.

However, Sarada's actions were the result of her secret admiration for him. She admired his optimism, social skills, positive popularity, everything she didn't have. Maybe that's why Sarada avoided Boruto like the plague, even if his class was just a few steps away from her own class.

Boruto Uzumaki was a person Sarada Uchiha wanted to be, but couldn't due to her stuck-up personality. And now the same Sarada Uchiha tried to think how she ended up with such mixed feelings towards the same Bortuo Uzumaki she successfully avoided before.

In that case, wasn't it normal for her to have such contradictory feelings about Boruto as a person? Sarada before realising it until now from an 'idiot' that she's jealous of, somehow started to see him as a good friend.

"No, not just friend..." she muttered in a daze to the empty air. 'Friend' meant the person she could trust wholeheartedly like Chō-Chō. Sarada knew why she shouldn't doubt the intentions of other people so much, but being suspicious was her most natural reaction.

Being betrayed once was enough but due to that Sarada was scared to trust people that weren't Chō-Chō. Even though she interacted with Mitsuki, Sumire and Shikadai as a fellow club member, Sarada was unable to trust them completely.

When did she start to trust Boruto and developed feelings that weren't something which Sarada would label as friendship? Sarada till this day could recall stuff Boruto said to her during these past few months.

_"Are you sure about that? No matter how strong you are it is nice to have someone worrying about your well being."_

_"That's a really awesome dream, ya know!"_

_"You can always stick to me, ya know! I mean to stick with all club members, hehe."_

_"Hahahahaha! An alien! I'm not a handsome and popular guy in your eyes, but an alien! It's the first time a girl thinks I'm coming from another planet, ya know? It's hilarious!"_

Boruto is quite a smooth talker, isn't he? Out of context, those lines sound strange. No wonder she ended up loving him. It's this annoying idiot fault, not hers.

Suddenly, a light tap on her shoulder interrupted her thoughts. She couldn't help but jump slightly.

"Are you alright, Sarada? You seem kind of absent right now, ya know?" It was Boruto. He's the person that is responsible for all her mixed up emotions

"B-Boruto! Don't scare me like that ever again. Please." Sarada came back to her usual composure. The more nervous she was, the calmer she appeared in front of others.

"Did I scare you? Sorry, I can't tell because you don't look scared at all." Boruto almost looked like an angel with that relaxed smile.

"Yes, I was startled. Besides, it doesn't matter how I look." She hoped this answer was good enough. Sarada knew her judgement towards Boruto behaviour is clouded. Especially, after realising how handsome he is in this moment.

"What a waste, ya know..." Boruto muttered averting his blue eyes.

"Eh, a waste?!" Sarada didn't know why he made this comment. Was he trying to make her misunderstand something?

"I mean I think you should care more about how you look, ya know? I'm not talking about something extreme, but it would be nice if you sometimes dressed up. I really know you would be pretty if you smile more, Sarada."

Sarada eyes widened. Boruto's words really struck her heart, so she looked into his eyes and smiled. It wasn't sarcastic smirk, it wasn't a forced happy expression, it was her most real and sincere smile.

"Thank you, Boruto. It doesn't change the fact you're annoying." Sarada said, ignoring a small blush forming on Boruto's cheeks.

"Y-yeah... By the way, I realised that I forgot to give you an address to my house. We still need to know when we should meet to buy you a new phone, ya know?" Boruto spoke as fast as possible throwing in her direction the small paper. And after that, he disappeared from her like flash of lightning.

Sarada took this little scrap of paper in her hand and decided to read it. Boruto's house was really close to the cat alley she liked to go. Oh, whatever she'll pretend she's not jealous of Boruto running skills at all and forgives him now for deserting her.

・・・・★・・・・★ ・・・・

At home, Sarada was like usual alone. She decided to read her favourite mystery novel that she got into. Though, her plans were quickly disturbed by her mom coming back. Did something happen?

"Mom?! I thought you had a shift today?" Sarada questioned her beautiful mother, Sakura.

"Did I surprise you, Sarada? I took the day off today." Sakura responded with a kind smile.

"A little bit. Last time when you suddenly came back we didn't have a pleasant conversation." Sarada remembered her mom was against her being a member of a club she participated in.

"Sarada. I'm still against you being in a club that involves gambling." Sakura sighed silently wishing this issue could finish fast. She wanted to spend time with her daughter in the same way as before. Without this tense atmosphere.

"I know." Sarada covered her face with a book just not to show her sadness. Her mom was stressed enough, even without her causing problems.

"You should quit." Sakura walked over and took a book from her daughter's hands. Honestly speaking she should have this conversation with her one month ago.

"I'm sorry, but I don't plan on quitting anytime soon, mom. I know you think this club can bring for me painful memories. However, being a member of this club made me more happy than sad." Sarada started to tell mom her reasons. She should speak sooner about her feelings. Maybe if she explained her reasons calmly before, her mother would be less stressed.

"Happy? Grandma Tsunade was happy too, but look like she ended up. Dear, I don't want for you to end up hurt. Can't you see I'm doing it for your sake?" Sakura mentioned Tsunade. It was painful for her to use the name of her mentor in this sort of way. Tsunade died pursuing her dream, the dream Sarada wanted to fulfil.

"Yes, happy. I moved on, mom. Of course, thinking about the past is painful, but that's it. It's the past." Sarada looked into her mother's emerald eyes. Her mom looked exhausted but still decided to have this honest heart-to-heart talk. It made Sarada incredibly happy.

"Are you sure you're okay, Sarada? I don't want to see you looking lifeless again." Sakura patted Sarada head lightly. Why people close to Sarada have the urge to pat her head?!

"I'm sure. I moved on and you should too, mom. Oh, and I don't know if I want to be definitely the owner of a travelling casino. Dreams can change, ya know?" Sarada imitated Boruto speaking habit. His influence on her was one of the reasons she used it.

"Is that so? I think you resemble someone I know a lot right now." Sakura teased confused at her words, Sarada.

"I do?" Sarada asked trying to get her mystery novel book back from her mom's hands.

"Yes, you do. Did you meet some new friends in the club perhaps?" Sakura smirked realising why her daughter didn't want to quit the club right now.

"I did. To be honest, joining this club made me feel less lonely. Boruto is really a great friend." Sarada decided not to mention Boruto was the person she had a crush on. Her mom was too much eager to listen about teenage romance stories.

"Boruto, you mean Boruto Uzumaki? Naruto Uzumaki son?" Sakura mouth formed a little 'o' in her surprise.

"Yes? He's the president of our club." Her causal answer made her mother laugh.

"Who would have thought Naruto son is more responsible than him. That's hilarious." Sakura had small tears in the corner of her eyes from this apparently funny situation.

"You know Boruto's father?" Maybe it seems like she pried too much into her mom private life, but the rumours in the school were making Sarada nervous.

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't. However, if Boruto Uzumaki is the club president half of my worries can disappear." Sakura concluded having a little bit of joy seeing confused expression on her daughter's face.

"So I don't need to quit the club and can still be Boruto's friend?" Sarada asked quite unsure how Sakura will answer.

"Yes, but I'm still against you gambling in any way." And with those words, Sakura started to talk about her work as well plan of spending her day off with Sarada.

Sarada was glad the heavy air between her and Sakura has lifted. It was quite a while when she enjoyed spending time with her mother just like today. It was one of the best days of her life.

・・・・★・・・・★ ・・・・

Boruto felt strange since yesterday. Seeing Sarada smile was really rare. He didn't know what caused this reaction, but now was seating next to Mitsuki and Shikadai in the clubroom.

"Girls are complicated and scary." Mitsuki started the topic with a heavy sigh.

"You just say it right now because of Sumire and Chō-Chō avoiding you, don't you? What a drag." Shikadai said while closing his eyes.

"No, not really I sorted it out with them yesterday. All three of us decided to be friends after I explained my circumstances. I was talking about Sarada completely charming her way into Boruto's heart." Damn you Mitsuki! It was the only words Boruto could think as

an answer to his friend that changed the subject to Sarada.

Sarada smile popped into his head. She looked beautiful when she smiled. Any reasonable guy would want to put her in the cage and protect her seeing how awesome she looks when she smiles. Being this cute should be forbidden.

"Sarada? I'm her friend right now, ya know?" Boruto forced himself saying those words. For some reason, they didn't feel right to him.

"Troublesome. Every member of this club knew you wanted to be Sarada's friend. It was obvious. But what do you think about Sarada now?" For the sake of their friendship from childhood, Shikadai wanted to help Boruto in any way he can. He owes it for hurting him that day, after all.

"She's cute, I guess?" Boruto had a big grin when he told them his opinion. Mitsuki and Shikadai sighed in the mutual understanding of the hopeless case of Boruto denial. It wasn't surprising for Shikadai. Boruto probably didn't want to get hurt by a girl again.

"Why do you think she's cute? A lot of students think it's hard to deal with Sarada and calls her Ice Queen, you know?" Shikadai wondered. Sarada looked more like the girl that would murder you with one stare than looking cute.

"She's cute when she smiles? And Sarada isn't that hard to deal with when you get to know her a little bit better, ya know!" Boruto tone was very cheerful like he told them something they didn't know.

"Ahh, it's troublesome. If your fangirls heard you right now, Sarada would be probably killed." Shikadai wanted to sleep but helping Boruto was now his priority. It's not like his friend wasn't aware of his own feelings, he was just too stubborn to admit how he feels.

"Eh?! But my fangirls are afraid of Sarada, ya know? They ran away in fear after seeing her." Boruto statement made Shikadai sigh much more than before. Mitsuki just stared at the clubroom wall with a creepy smile showing on his face.

"I think you and Sarada would make a nice couple." Mitsuki chimed in after a few minutes of uncomfortable silence. Boruto started to fake coughing and cursing Mitsuki brutal honesty.

"No way! Not to mention the fact I don't know if I can trust any girl in terms of dating." Like Shikadai thought that was the main root of Boruto denaying the possibility of having feelings for Sarada.

At that moment door to the clubroom opened and Sarada entered the room. That was kind of awkward since they were still talking about her.

"So why you don't trust any girls in terms of dating, Boruto?" Sarada question made them really uncomfortable. Did she hear everything?

"Oh, Sarada how long you were here?" Boruto let out a nervous chuckle.

"I just came here and heard something about you having problems to get a girlfriend." Was it Shikadai imagination or did Sarada is jealous? Oh boy, they screwed up in talking about it in the clubroom.

"Kind of, ya know? It's tied more to my own personal problem than wanting to get into the relationship." Boruto answered truthfully.

"Is it tied to the question I asked you during the Sports Festival?" After some thought, Sarada whispered not being sure if she's ready to hear Boruto response.

"It is, ya know. Bringing up Asami Kinoshita and how I got into the gaming is always hard." Boruto averted his gaze from Sarada. It was a stupid move to mention his ex-girlfriend. However, Sarada eyes widened in surprise like she discovered something unusual.

"Asami Kinoshita?! That Asami Kinoshita?! Is she the root of the problems happening in our club?" Sarada outburst was really out of place. She spoke like if she knew Asami too.

"Sarada... You know Asami?" Boruto complexion looked pale. If Sarada knows Asami was she a participant in that game tournament year ago? Shikadai looked like he ate something unpleasant hearing Asami name. Mitsuki, on the other hand, was confused.

"I do, though I can say I wish I didn't know her at all." Sarada words could make anyone shiver in fear.

"Really? That's a surprise, ya know? Want to hear how I got into the gaming from the start?" Boruto voice lacked his usual energy, but Sarada nodded. She was curious about it not too long ago.

"Yes." It was the only answer she could give.

"Are you alright with it Shikadai?" Boruto looked at Shikadai before he got a thumbs up it's okay from him. Mitsuki at the same time thought him fading into the background was a great idea for now.

"You can start. I will listen." Sarada tried to process this unexpected situation calmly.

"Asami was my girlfriend and at that time was the person I cherished, ya know?" Boruto smile was warm, but his eyes looked like he was in pain.

What was this feeling of uneasiness in Sarada's heart? Sarada hated the smile that appeared on Boruto's face every time he mentioned Asami name. However, it didn't matter how she felt. She needed to hear this story. Especially, if it involved Asami.

Sarada promised Chō-Chō to discover the truth. Listening to this story will lead her to this discovery. No more excuses! She just needed to prepare her heart to hear everything from Boruto personally. She needed to know the truth from him and not anyone else.

 **Because she loved him.**


	18. Chapter Seventeen

**Konoha High, One Year ago:**

This is the story about the four people that made a mistake. First was too much naive in seeking a place to belong to, the second couldn't pick between love or friendship, the third blinded by their pride and the fourth that was the cause of it all.

Now when they think about it, it was just a mere coincidence that all three of them ended up in the same classroom. Whether it could be a fortunate one, or not is up to debate.

Boruto's assigned class was the class "C". He could feel the sense of dread about his upcoming high school life. As the principal son, he for sure will face prejudice or people approaching him with nasty intentions.

Walking towards the classroom assigned for the class "C", a faint scent of vanilla made the trip through bland hallway much more bearable. Decorations along the way were tasteless just like his dad.

Surprisingly the classroom he entered looked approximately normal. Empty desks, blackboard stained with charcoal and pleasant view through the seats next to windows. What brought his attention were two familiar figures writing something on the blackboard.

"Sumire and Shikadai…" he whispered in his state of shock. Boruto had a conviction they chose a different school, so why they were here? Deep in his thoughts about their reasons, he stopped paying attention to his surroundings.

"B-Boruto? I didn't know you were in the same class!" Class rep sudden shout startled him. He missed the moment when both she and Shikadai recognised his presence.

"Shouldn't I be more surprised you're both here, ya know?" he asked. Boruto's suspicions about them being here had a valid reason. Both Sumire and Shikadai supposedly planned to go to _'Suna High.'_

"What a drag… Sumire should give you an explanation, not me." Shikadai couldn't stop his yawn. Yup, his childhood friend was talkative like no one ever was.

"Konoha High was our second pick on the list, can't you remember?" The sigh class rep let out started to hurt his personal pride.

"Now that you mention it I remember something like that, ya know! So Sumire do you plan to be a class rep in high school too?" What with that unimpressed gaze from Shikadai?! _'Class Rep'_ nickname was in danger if Sumire won't want to be one! It would be convenient if she is because she's used in dealing with his mischief.

"I don't know if I will. Maybe?" Sumire tilted her head in an overly-cute way. Damn, she saw through him like he was some sort of open book. 'Class Rep' could be really scary sometimes.

"Please, be class rep this year too! Without you being class rep when you're here everything can feel off, ya know?" How awkward of him to spell this out loud. It's too much big of favour since the 'class rep' didn't have any obligation to listen to his plea.

"My close friend from Suna was nervous about transferring to the city, so I ended up here. Though, it's troublesome," mumbled Shikadai. That was the nice life-saver! As excepted from his childhood bro that could tell how ridiculous his conversation with 'class rep' was.

"Oh, really? Introduce me to your friend someday, ya know!" Pretending to be excited, Boruto jumped as high he could. Crashing onto the floor wasn't the best first impression he did on the rest of slowly coming into the classroom his future classmates. But the thought that two of his friends being here was reassuring.

At that time feigning ignorance to his naivety and still seeking out for a place that he belongs to. He hurt just his own feelings in the end.

・・・・★・・・・★ ・・・・

Sumire considered Shikadai just as a mere acquaintance. Of course, she was astonished when she met him in near the school building. After all, didn't he plan to enter Suna High just like her?

Setting aside the small chat that she had with her old friends and hiding her 'real' reason to be a student here, she spaced out during class rep election. Boruto's begging from before apparently had an effect of the promotional school election campaign. She won the votes from her classmates without doing anything. That irritated her to no end.

It's true that she always was 'class rep.' However, being one this year sounded boring. Even a small change in her position would be nice. At this point, she's stuck to the stigma of a 'class rep' forever.'

Echo of the school bell annoyed her more. But it was a sign that the time to meet Shikadai's friend is coming soon. During their talk, the guy asked her to accompany him because 'Asami' didn't have a lot of female friends. Sumire agreed for the old times' sake.

Walking into cafeteria filled with the smell of freshly baked bread, Sumire somehow noticed Shikadai waving towards her to join the table. Next to him was sitting slender looking girl that had green eyes and the long wavy platinum-blonde hair. Was it Asami? She looked similar to a doll with a bubbly personality than the real human. Maybe she shouldn't judge her based on the first impression?

"Hi, Shikadai! I g-guess that's the friend you talked about, right?" Sure, she stammered a little bit because she's nervous around meeting new people. But gathering the courage to join the table where both Shikadai and the doll-like person were sitting wasn't easy for Sumire Kakei. At least not now.

"Oh, it's a person I talked about to you, Asami. That's Sumire Kakei, Sumire the person sitting next to me is Asami Kinoshita." Shikadai eyes seemed to sparkle when introducing his 'friend' from Suna. Friend, right? For Sumire, it looked more like a one-sided crush. Nara wagging his puppy tail for that girl wasn't something she excepted.

"Nice to meet you, Lisa! Do you have speech problems?" Asami spoke up. The whole doll-like image Sumire had of her suddenly shattered to pieces.

"I'm Sumire, not Lisa. And my speech shouldn't concern you," she responded. All her willpower went into stopping herself in saying something ruder.

Sumire disliked Asami thinking of her as the person that had the sweet, innocent facade that went completely unnoticed by no one in school. Oh, stupid comments about her upbringing coming from Asami's mouth played a large part in it too.

Due to her too much prideful personality and an open-dislike for the girl, Sumire's warnings were not considered. If something else happened that day…

Maybe the warning she gave would have more meaning. And everything could change. But Sumire's personal pride got in the way.

The only thing Sumire Kakei wanted to know till this day is the entire truth. The truth about the girl that hurt her close friend.

・・・・★・・・・★ ・・・・

Boruto ran away from his fangirls. Those girls were crazy and dedicated to tail him that far.

"They're just after me cause of my parents, aren't they? Being in the centre of attention sucks," he whispered. He was sure nobody will hear him here. After all, that's his favourite hiding place.

"Oh, you're the guy… Boruto Uzumaki!" Boruto recognised the owner of this voice. Was he so out of it he didn't notice the girl sitting in front of him?!

"Asami, what are you doing here?" he inquired. Maybe it was the stupid thing to do, but at this moment he didn't care about it.

"Sitting as you can see! Is there something wrong? You look really like a beaten puppy right now." Asami shook her head in worry. How pathetic. Being an optimist was his speciality, not this girl.

"I just feel overwhelmed by the other people putting high expectations around me, ya know? It doesn't help I don't know what to do either," his small confession and feelings he hid until now came out.

"Oh, I mean every person feels down sometimes. You're just a human like me! Aren't you good at gaming?" Asami started to spin as if some idea popped into her head. What is she? A ballerina? And when she got into a position to be his personal counsellor?!

"I like to play in games, but I wouldn't call myself a professional gamer." For a moment he forgot how bad he's feeling.

"Why do you not to try to take part in the upcoming gaming tournament? I feel you have a knack for it!" she clenched her hands into fists. Did he really give an image of a professional gamer? The idea itself wasn't that bad.

"If you think I have a knack for it, why not? I can even be the president of the club for people that enjoy playing in games, ya know!" Maybe he acted too hasty, but for some reason need to impress this girl won over his any remaining doubts.

"See? You still have reason to live for the future." Asami made a peace sign. He really appreciated the gesture she did to try to improve his bad mood. It was the first time when he let someone see him in this state.

After their first real conversation, they started meeting up in Boruto's hiding spot. Talking about various things and the future plans involved gaming was in his daily routine now. It's no wonder he fell in love. He even successfully could be called Asami's boyfriend.

That's how they all met her. And that's how Boruto love for her was the cause of everything that happened.

"Did you hear, Shikadai? Boruto started to date Asami!" Sumire felt an obligation to inform him about this shocking news.

Shikadai shrugged. "It's a drag… I'm happy for them, really."

That was obviously his lie, but Sumire didn't plan to give up. Something was wrong with that 'Asami' girl.

"I'm telling you something is wrong with your so-called friend! Can you at least listen to my warnings?" It's the only hope she had for Shikadai to take action and warn Boruto too. But her words weren't enough.

Because Shikadai couldn't pick either love or friendship. Both were a precious gem for him. His inability in choosing sides hurt every party.

"Can you stop, Sumire? I know you dislike Asami, but it's not really your business. Stick your nose into something else, okay?" Due to mixed up emotions welling up inside of him, Shikadai got unreasonably mad.

That day friendship that could form between them came to a halt. Sumire stopped her usual mornings' greetings directed at Shikadai, and he started to ignore her as well.

_All three of them were just fools back then._

_ ・・・・★・・・・★ ・・・・ _

Boruto was really nervous that day. He somehow managed to convince both Sumire and Shikadai to join his club and the gaming tournament.

All those cameras around made him extremely nervous. There was a lot of the clubs competing and gathering at different gaming tables, or sometimes even fancy platforms. A place where the audience could watch his matches from a safe distance, for sure didn't make him feel calm

Maybe that's why he bumped into a girl with short jet-black hair and red glasses. He shouted out his apology, but it seems she completely ignored him.

The feeling of anxiety passed when Boruto started to play with his competition. His club destroyed all the others on various games. It was so humiliating for those losers that a break was announced due to some complication about some 'cheater'. Well, that so-called cheater wasn't a person he took an interest in.

Walking towards the backstage when the short break started, suddenly he froze. He couldn't believe what was transpiring in front of him.

Asami kissed flustered Shikadai that pushed her away. They were screaming. At some point, she cried. Boruto stopped to care, his mind went blank. All the things he believed in his best friend, girlfriend and future shattered. And the sudden realisation struck. Asami was using him, she wanted to get closer to Shikadai, not him.

His personal feelings, the fear of being used were now true. And that hurt like someone cut his heart in half. That pain was so real he'll never forget it.

"A-Asami, S-Shikadai…" Boruto cried out to them. His friend and girlfriend expression were terrified. Like he's some kind of monster. Why? Was he really that selfish? Naive? So incompetent in love that his friend and person he loved betrayed his trust?

Asami knew about his fear of being used. And she took advantage of that knowledge. He couldn't forgive her, even if he could try. Never. In the end, he broke up with her for Shikadai's sake too. Because it doesn't matter if Shikadai betrays his trust, he was still his childhood friend.

Running away from them and giving up in the tournament was the main action he took afterwards. Even if losing meant he'll never announce to everyone Asami is his girlfriend, or give her a surprise he planned. Everything he did had no meaning. Eh? Are those tears that are falling on his cheeks?

Feelings can be indeed cruel sometimes. That's the conclusion Boruto Uzumaki arrived at after some time passed and he received a letter from Asami.

_Dear Boruto and Dai!_

_I owe an honest apology to you both. I didn't want to hurt anyone, but I guess it couldn't be helped in the end._

_The president of Boruto's Fanclub learned about me having a crush on Shikadai and the secret talks I had with Boruto. At first, it was nothing major, but later I got dangerous threats telling me what to do._

_I was so scared that I did everything I was instructed to do. Terrible things. Like accusing that one poor girl as a cheater and leading you all on._

_I'm really sorry! Please forgive me… I won't show up in your lives anymore too, so let's all move on._

_PS - Don't show this letter to Sumire. She already disliked me, so what's the point?_

_From wishing you good luck, Asami._

The content of the letter helped him and Shikadai to move on. They didn't tell Sumire about what happened between them. Later on, their old friend Chō-Chō and a completely new member joined the club. But the pain and the past grudges remained till this day.

・・・・★・・・・★ ・・・・

**Back to the Present Day:**

"That's the whole story." Boruto summed everything up being grateful Sarada, Mitsuki and Sumire are patient listeners.

"Uwawa! You should tell me about the letter, even if you knew about my dislike towards the girl." Sumire couldn't help but comment bitterly. Instead of being secretive, everything would get resolved if they talked to her from the start.

"You're quite scary when you mad. It's a drag," Shikadai put his input about events that happened in the past. But he sensed Boruto wanted to ask Sarada something important right now.

"Hey, Sarada… You said you know Asami. How exactly you're connected to her?" Boruto tried to calm down. Telling a story about his emotional scars wasn't easy for him.

"I'm the accused cheater. Asami approached me under the guise of friendship and framed for cheating during the tournament. We were… close friends." That's all Sarada had to say about the girl. She forgave Asami Kinoshita long ago. Holding a grudge now was pointless. But the feeling of betrayal will always linger.

"I see… I'm sorry," said Boruto with a warm smile. He even walked up to her and stroked her hair to show he's really sorry. It made Sarada incredibly embarrassed. At this point she suspected patting her was the new hobby that he desperately looked for in the past.

"I-It's not your fault." This situation was bad for her heart. Every time Asami name was mentioned, Boruto smiled.

Sarada hated it. She wanted to be the person that makes him smile in that way. Not some another girl! At the same time, she hated herself for being jealous too. God, she needs help. Boruto is just too kind and handsome.

"Thank you." Boruto response pulled at her heartstrings more. She needed to change the subject. Think Sarada, think! Before your cheeks will turn as red like tomatoes.

"So what about the game tournament this year? Do you want to participate?" Sumire question was a life-saver. She needs to say 'thank you' to her later.

"I have nothing against it, but my mom will." It was the truth.

"That's okay. This day is exhausting. Let's meet up tomorrow. You can flirt with Boruto later," she winked in her direction. Wha-What? Wasn't Sumire on her side?! Not being able to look any club member in the eye Sarada exited the clubroom.

And that's when she remembered about the bet. The bet that didn't have any progress. Eh, she promised to buy a new phone together with Boruto tomorrow before she got engaged in a story he was telling!

Is it a date?

That type of delusions flew into her thoughts. It's official if it continues she'll turn into Chō-Chō. But if that's possible… She wanted to help Boruto to heal from his pain.


End file.
